Fort Rock Cave

Infobox_nrhp | name =Fort Rock Cave
nrhp_type = nhl


caption = University of Oregon archaeological excavations at Fort Rock Cave, Oregon (USA), 1966.
nearest_city= Fort Rock, Oregon
area =
architect=
architecture=
designated= January 20, 1961cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=472&ResourceType=Site
title=Fort Rock Cave |accessdate=2007-11-19|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = October 15, 1966cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
refnum=66000641

Fort Rock Cave is the site of the earliest evidence of human habitation in the U.S. state of Oregon, including 10,000-year-old sandals (the oldest footwear ever discovered).cite book | first = William G. | last = Robbins | title = Oregon: This Storied Land | publisher = Oregon Historical Society Press | date = 2005 | id = ISBN 0987595-286-0] The cave is located approximately 0.5 mi (0.8 km) west of Fort Rock on the Reub Long ranch in Lake County. [cite web |url= http://www.ascoinfo.org/index_files/Page359.htm |title= Fort Rock Cave, Oregon |publisher= Archeological Society of Central Oregon |accessdate=2008-04-29]

Fort Rock Cave was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

Archeology

University of Oregon archaeologist Luther Cressman's 1938 excavations at Fort Rock Cave placed human habitation in Oregon as early as 13,200 years ago.cite web | title =Fort Rock State Natural Area | publisher =Oregon State Parks | url =http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_40.php | accessdate = 2007-04-09] cite web | title =World's Oldest Shoes | publisher =University of Oregon | url =http://www.uoregon.edu/~connolly/FRsandals.htm | accessdate =2007-04-09] Cressman's team also recovered numerous examples of sandals woven from sagebrush bark below a layer of Mazama Ash (deposited by the explosion forming Crater Lake about 7600 years ago). Radiocarbon dating of these sandals, now displayed at the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History in Eugene, has shown some to be over 10,000 years old.cite web | last =Tucker | first =Kathy | title =Fort Rock Sandals | publisher =Oregon Historical Society | year =2002 | url =http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=000E82E3-D82A-1DBE-BB3880B05272FE9F | accessdate =2007-04-09] Several other prehistoric artifacts have been found at Fort Rock Cave, including basketry and stone and rock tools.cite web | title =Cultural Sequence in the Northern Great Basin: The View From Fort Rock | publisher =University of Oregon Department of Anthropology | url =http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~anthro/academics/FieldSchool/section3.html | accessdate = 2007-04-09]

See also

* Kennewick Man, skeletal remains discovered in the Pasco Basin
* Marmes Rockshelter, on the lower Snake River
* Paisley Caves, also in eastern Oregon, the site of perhaps the oldest human remains in the Americas

References

External links

* [http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_249.php Fort Rock Cave information] from Oregon Parks and Recreation Department