| Thursday, May 11, 2006 Paine Run Rockshelter | Permalink |
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 In the late 1970's I was a co-principal investigator for a park-wide archaeological survey and several site investigations in the Shenandoah National Park. One of our better sites was this small rockshelter along the lower reaches of Paine Run, a tributary of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. While by European standards, this rockshelter is a bit of laugh, it was the only 'stratified' site we encountered in several years of work in the Blue Ridge. In the upper portions we found pottery and 'arrowheads' typical of site use dating to about AD 500 plus or minus a few hundred years. Low down, the material changed and reflected an entirely different use of the site by native populations probably about 3 or 4 thousands years ago. Rockshelter excavation can be quite difficult due to the number and size of fallen rocks. This site was no different. We worked with a couple of archaeologists from Germany who were attempting to teach us the 'right' way to excavate such complex sites. To put it mildly, we had a few differences of opinion about just about everything that was done. They returned to their university with a very low opinion of American archaeology and I will admit that to this day when I think of silliness they expected us to put up with, I still laugh out loud. Posted by forgingahead | Comment (5) Category: My Shots, Archaeology Links: forgingahead Main Site Archives: People (75), Family (77), My Shots (120), Dad's Shots (128), Places I Have Lived (32), Places I Have Visited (64), Archaeology (23) | |
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