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The Museum will resume normal operating hours (10 AM-4 PM) on Saturday, January 11, 2025. Thank you!

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Mantle's Cave Archaeological Collection

Globular Basket

The discovery by Lee and Jones of this globular basket in early summer 1939 led to the professional archaeological investigation of Mantle's Cave. The basket was shallowly buried in sand. It contained noose peg snares, a net bag, three fish hooks and fishing line, and three bundles of games snares with over a hundred snares in all. This was called Cache 2.The basket has a constricted mouth and a leather strap. It is a close-coiled basket that has a split-rod foundation and interlocking stitches. It has a no...

Fishing Hooks and Line

These composite fish hooks found in the globular basket from Cache 2 average approximately 3.8 cm in length. They are made of wood with a bone point or barb lashed to them with cordage. The cordage is made of dogbane (Apocynum spp.). Pine gum helps hold the bone points in place.One hook is attached to fishing line, which is approximately 274.5c m long. The fishing line is tapered, two-ply, Z spin, S final twist in construction. A smaller, thinner second line is attached to the hook and may have been used to...

Basketry Ladle

This basketry ladle was another artifact brought to the Museum in 1939 by Lee and Jones. Ladle forms are not typical in Fremont material culture areas making the recovery of this one from Mantle's Cave very intriguing. Generally ladles are thought to have their origins in Ancestral Puebloan basketry and pottery. Some basketry ladles have been found at Aztec Ruin and Chaco Canyon (Morris and Burgh 1941), and they are generally associated with Ancestral Puebloan material culture.This distinctive artifact is c...

Necklace

From Scoggin's journal:Ed uncovered some beads today, in section D-1, comprising what looks to be a string several feet long, placed in gentle loops along the bottom of a crevice between stones...It is possible to uncover the beads in a fine manner with a hand bellows so that sketches can be drawn. January 8, 1940It took Scoggin and Lohr two days to uncover this shallowly buried necklace made of juniper berries and bird-bone tubes. Upon discovering that the original material used to string the necklace had ...

Corn on Stick

From Scoggin's journal:...after a fine sleep...four perfect ears of corn were among the interesting things found today. February 17, 1940The earliest Fremont corn has been dated to approximately 2000 years ago (Madsen 1989). In some areas corn became well established. In others its cultivation was a part-time activity while hunting and gathering continued.Mantle's Cave was clearly used for the storage of corn, as evidenced by the thirty-seven pothole storage chambers, most of which were bell-shaped; the two...

Moccasins

From Scoggin's journal:This weather, or us and our super-warm blood!...We gave the day until about noon to warm-up and the wind to loose (sic) some of its chill and when there was no good promise for either happening, Ed and I ...started out for the cave...uncovered a complete pair of buckskin moccasins, which had been tied into a clumpy bundle with a long piece of cordage and "cached" a few inches below the surface. February 19, 1940Burgh and Scoggin (1948) described the moccasins as typical Fremont constr...

Deer Scalp Headdress

Deer scalp headdress (UCM 6102)From Scoggin's journal:I've come across a situation...whatever it turns out to be, the moccasins found yesterday belong with it as does a spectacular headpiece uncovered during today's work. February 20, 1940Scoggin discovered Mantle's Cave Cache 3, which contained this deer scalp headdress and the previously described pair of moccasins. The headdress had been placed on a bed of cedar bark in a shallow pit with the moccasins on top of it. The unique and carefully crafted headd...

Hafted Knife

From Scoggin's journal:Today's digging was very short, but exceptionally rich. ... [we] found a unique long knife blade...probably the most valuable find thus far made. February 24, 1940Burgh and Scoggin (1948:47) concluded that this hafted knife was "the most interesting stone implement in the collection." They described the blade as coarsely chipped from a black stone of a dull finish and with sharp, jagged edges. The handle is made of cottonwood and measures 11 cm in length. It is split to allow the inse...

Flicker Feather "Headdress"

From Scoggin's journal:…the most unusual object of the dig. The finds each passing day seem to be that, I note, glancing back through the pages. April 2, 1940One of the most beautiful objects recovered from Mantle's Cave is a flicker feather object resembling a headdress. The headdress is intricately constructed and was found in a buckskin pouch. It is made of flicker feathers, ermine, and buckskin.More than 370 feathers are in the headdress. Six feathers at the center of the crest are from the yellow-shaft...

Bird Figurines

These three figurines do not come from Mantle's Cave, but were among twelve anthropomorphic bird and animal figurines found at Marigold Cave (5MF9), also in Yampa Canyon. Marigold Cave was explored by Scoggin and later excavated by Burgh. Marigold Cave is a large vaulted cave with two ledges, each about 55 m long and 3-6 m wide. Unlike Mantle's Cave, five house floors with hearths as well as masonry granaries were recorded. The site is classified as Fremont and archived notes indicate it was dated to 750 A....