Graham Cave is a Native American archeological site near

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Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to: Australia * The former name of Montgomery Land District, Tasmania United Kingdom * The historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales, also called County of Montgomery United States * Montgomery County, Alabama * Montg ...

in the hills above the Loutre River. It is located in the 356 acre Graham Cave State Park. The entrance of the

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

forms a broad arch wide and high. Extending about into the hillside, the cave protects an historically important

Pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

site from the ancient

Dalton Dalton may refer to: Science * Dalton (crater), a lunar crater * Dalton (program), chemistry software * Dalton (unit) (Da), a.k.a. unified atomic mass unit * John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist * 12292 Dalton, an asteroid Ent ...

and Archaic period dating back to as early as 10,000 years ago. Graham Cave was formed at the point of contact of Jefferson City dolomite and St. Peter sandstone. Due to water flowing and freezing, the cave grew over the years. The cave originally extended about 100 feet into the hill, but an accumulation of debris over the years filled the lower part of the cave with about seven feet of deposits. With a broad entrance, the cave provided sufficient shelter to humans and animals alike. Robert Graham, who originally settled in the area in 1816 when he purchased some

bottomland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of a ...

from a son of

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, purchased the property including the cave in 1847. Graham's son D.F. Graham sheltered hogs in the cave and became interested in archeology from the artifacts he found there. After his death, his collection of artifacts was offered by his son Benjamin to the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

, which investigated the cave in 1930. Benjamin's son-in-law was persuaded to delay plans to enlarge the shelter for his

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

in 1948 so that archeological excavations could be made. Graham Cave excavation f12

The University of Missouri and the Missouri Archaeological Society excavated the cave between 1949 and 1961. These excavations revealed clues that linked the site to the lifestyle of the Dalton and Archaic Native Americans. The importance of the findings in that period resulted in the site being the first archaeological site in the United States to be designated a

National Historical Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500, or roughly three percent, of ove ...

. Reports were published by the Missouri Archaeological Society. The first report was published by W. D. Logan in 1952 and a second report was published by Walter Klippel in 1971. The site is discussed by Professor Carl Chapman in The Archaeology of Missouri, volume 1 (1975), and by Professors O'Brien and Wood in The Prehistory of Missouri (1998). The cave is now part of a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

operated by the

Missouri Department of Natural Resources The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MoDNR) is a state department of Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the Unit ...

. Visitors are allowed up to the entrance of the cave where interpretive signs point out important archaeological discoveries.

References

External links

Graham Cave State Park
{{authority control Archaic period in North America Caves of Missouri National Historic Landmarks in Missouri Protected areas of Montgomery County, Missouri Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Missouri

See also

References

External links