CO: Gunnison Co. 2,450 m
General Description.—Emslie 1986: Site 5GN 189. A small, volcanic lava tube in the Gunnison Basin, Gunnison Co., CO, Carpenter Ridge Quadrangle, NE 1/4 SE 1/4 Sec. 27, T49N, R3W, elevation 2,450 m. Cave is 2.3 m in diameter and over 10 m deep; located on S rimrock of Haystack Mesa.
Emslie 1986: Test excavations made during the summer of 1978 to evaluate cultural remains after vandalization. In undisturbed deposits, a large collection of vertebrates and some artifacts.
Human sign distinct only in upper two levels (40 cm); human presence below is uncertain (citing Euler and Stiger 1981). Two adjoining 1 X 1 m test pits in center of the cave were excavated in 10 and 20 cm levels by park service personnel. Excavation went to bedrock, 1.5 m below surface. All matrix screened through ¬" screen, with soil and pollen samples taken first. Data from the two pits combined and presented by Emslie in eight 20-cm levels (1 to 8 from surface). No attempt to separate into natural levels. Also a general stratigraphic profile.
Levels 1 - 3 disturbed; lower levels less so. Rancholabrean material recovered from the lower cave matrix (levels 4 - 8). All sediments appear to be from wind deposition and erosion of the cave interior. Many bones display breakage and tooth marks indicative of carnivores. See Euler and Stiger (1981) for complete description of excavations. All material housed at the Midwest Archeological Center, National Park Service, Lincoln, NE.
Age.—Emslie 1986: 12,154 ± 1700 (TX 3633) from levels 5 and 6 on bone apatite; 14,935 ± 610 BP (TX 3632) from levels 3 and 4 on bone apatite.
Environment.—Emslie 1986: Gunnison Basin surrounded by Elk Mts. to the north, Sawatch Range to the northeast, Cochetopa and La Garita Hills to the southeast, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to the west. Detailed accounts of present fauna in Stock (1962a, b), Olsen (1962), and Durrant and Robinson (1962). Blue Mesa Reservoir (built in the mid 1960s) now 1.2 km directly south of the cave. Emslie 1986: Grasses and Gambel's oak occur in front of the cave and on the mesa above. The valley bottom below the cave consists of sagebrush flats at an elevation of 2,300 m.
Paleoenvironment.—Emslie 1986: The Gunnison Basin was largely unforested grassland/sagebrush shrubland in the lower basin, with open coniferous forests extending to the edges of the basin.
Comments.—Emslie (1986) notes that Ursus americanus is represented here but absent from other sites in Colorado, Wyoming, and Idaho.
Publications.—Durrant and Robinson 1962; (*Emslie 1985c); (*Emslie 1986); Euler and Stiger 1981; Olsen 1962; Scott 1981; Stock 1962a, 1962b.
Fauna.—
AMPHIBIA
Last Update: 7 September 1998.