Atlatl Cave is an important archaeological site that contains organic evidence of occupation by Archaic North Americans . It is located at the west end of the

Chaco Culture National Historical Park Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a large concentration of pre-Columbian indigenous ruins of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, betwee ...

San Juan County, New Mexico San Juan County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 121,661 making it the fifth-most populous county in New Mexico. Its county ...

, at an elevation of 1910 meters.

History

During the 1970s, archaeologists discovered corn, beans, squash, a

yucca ''Yucca'' ( , YUCK-uh) is both the scientific name and common name for a genus native to North America from Panama to southern Canada. It contains 50 accepted species. In addition to yucca, they are also known as Adam's needle or Spanish-bayon ...

fiber sandal, a variety of different kinds of miniature beads made from juniper, basketry, juniperus monoserma and juniperus scopulorum twigs, p''seudotsuga'' ''menziesii'' wood fragments, and fabric made from rabbit fur in the cave. The breaths of the Archaic-age maize pollen grains are significantly larger than Puebloan and present maize pollen. They also found part of an atlatl, or

spear-thrower A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever, or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Classical Nahuatl, Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in Dart (missile), dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a Plain bearing, b ...

, from which the site got its name. Unlike most Archaic sites in the canyon, the shelter protected the organic materials inside, which allowed for accurate

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

References

Sources

* Archaeological sites in New Mexico Colorado Plateau Chaco Culture National Historical Park Ancestral Puebloans {{NewMexico-geo-stub San Juan County, New Mexico