© (Courtesy Amy Gilreath, Far West Anthropological Work at the mouth of Gypsum Cave in 2004
More recently technology indicates the humans came much later than Harrington supposed, but the cave is still an important archeological and paleontological site, members of Friends of Gold Butte heard last Tuesday,
Amy Gilreath of Far West Anthropological Research Group spoke to the group about the research she and colleague D. Craig Young carried out in 2004.
Gypsum Cave is about 10 miles east of Las Vegas, and a popular site. It is also adjacent to a utility corridor. When another power line was proposed through the area, the Bureau of Land Management required an assessment of the cave's value and the risk posed by increased traffic.
The cave, divided into several rooms, is 300 feet long and 120 feet wide. The front part of the cave contained rich evidence of being occupied by humans and prehistoric animals.
Harrington and a small crew of Pit River Indians spent about a year excavating the cave in 1930-31. The archeologist mapped the strata of the cave and found various ages of occupation by people and animals.
One of the prominent features of the cave is a thick layer of ground sloth dung. Harrington found claws and other remains of the ground sloth, as well as evidence of prehistoric horses and camels. Gilreath said the material found in the cave was remarkably well preserved.
Harrington's surprise discovery was darts and other human artifacts below the ground sloth layer. Since the Shasta ground sloth became extinct about 9,000 years ago, the evidence seemed to indicate human habitation before that,
But Gilreath said when radiocarbon dating technology became available, tests showed the human evidence was not much older than 4,000 years. When she and her colleagues were studying the cave, they noticed a number of packrats scurrying through the jumbled rock, and concluded the rodents moved material from the upper layers to lower layers.
But Harrington's archeological work is still value, she said.
"He found an extraordinary amount of perishable material," she said, such as cordage, wood, cane and fibers.
The dry climate preserved the archeological material, as well as the material from the Pleistocene age, she said.
The layers of dung have been important, she said, as paleontologists studying DNA have been able to learn more about the sloths, as well as getting an accurate picture of the plant life of the region during that time.
Gilreath said research throughout the Great Basin region shows the climate was much harsher and drier before 4,000 years ago. Then the climate moderated, and human habitation increased in the Middle Archaic age, from 2,250 to 4,000 years ago.
"Gympsum Cave fits that profile," she said.
The upper strata show considerable human evidence from 200 to 700 years ago, and artifacts indicate much of the activity centered on hunting.
In the last 200 years, the cave seems to have had serious ceremonial purposes, she said, even into the 1900s.
Lalovi Lee Miller, one of several members of the Moapa Paiute tribe who attended the presentation, said that fits with her people's history.
"For us, the Southern Paiutes, it's a spiritual place," Miller said. "The men went in there to fast and to learn the songs - it's called a song cave."
Gilreath said the process has been started to have the cave listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
"It has tremendous value to native Americans, archeologists, paleontologists and geologists," she said.
Because of the unstable geology, the BLM strongly recommends people do not go into the cave, she said.
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