User:R. Culverwell/Windust Caves Archaeological District

Article Draft
The Windust Caves (45-FR-46) are a series of nine caves that have been eroded into the side of a basalt cliff on the north side of the lower Snake River. The caves were excavated from 1959 until 1961 by a crew led by Harvey S. Rice. Some of the caves had been disturbed, though also somewhat preserved from looting by collectors, by rock falling off the roofs of the caves during construction of the Northern Pacific Railway. Other caves were damaged by collectors. In 1961, upon completion of the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam, the caves were flooded by the reservoir known as Lake Sacajawea.

The earliest finds at the site are very similar to the finds at Marmes Rockshelter, all of which have been classified as belonging to the archaeological phase known as the Windust Phase. They point to a lifestyle that was seminomadic. The spear points differed from the earlier Clovis points, in that they were stemmed and leaf-shaped. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the points were made between 8,500 and 6,000 BCE.

Excavation
The 1959-1961 excavation of the Windust Caves was conducted as part of an archaeological salvage project in anticipation of the completion of the Ice Harbor Dam, which inundated the site when its reservoir, Lake Sacajawea, was filled in 1962.

Roald H. Fryxell defined ten stratigraphic units above the basalt bedrock. The earliest unit, stratum I, is interpreted as a fluvial gravel deposit of Late Wisconsin age. The earliest evidence of habitation was found in stratum II, with subsequent strata containing fire lenses, stone tools, debitage, bone fragments, and organic materials. Artifacts are assigned to five cultural traditions, which are interpreted to represent about 10,000 years of occupation, but these dates are based only on morphological similarity of stone tools to those found at other sites with radiocarbon dates available.

Inhabitants

 * Debate over Western Stemmed Tradition (WST)
 * WST points found in conjunction with Clovis tradition, bring it to "the forefront of the peopling-of-the-Americas debate"