Danger Cave (archaeological site)
Danger Cave, located near Wendover, Utah, is a significant archaeological site that provides insights into prehistoric Indian life, with evidence of occupation spanning approximately 10,000 years. The cave measures about 60 by 120 feet and contains a stratified sequence of artifacts, including human skeletal remains, tools, clothing fragments, and basketry, distributed across five or six layers, some as deep as 13 feet. Radiocarbon dating indicates sporadic occupation, with increasing complexity in artifacts from earlier to later layers. Milling stones and remnants of local plant seeds suggest that ground seeds were a staple in the diets of the hunter-gatherers who utilized the cave.
The site has produced various artifacts, such as stone spear and dart points, with arrow points appearing only in more recent layers. Additionally, changes in basketry techniques and the introduction of ceramics in later layers reflect evolving cultural practices. The cave's deposits eventually obstructed its entrance, limiting its use, with evidence of more recent Paiute camps indicated by pottery shards. Overall, Danger Cave offers a window into the lives of small, family-based groups who adapted to challenging environments, focusing primarily on subsistence without significant ceremonial practices.
Danger Cave (archaeological site)
Category: Archaeological site
Date: c. 9000 b.c.e.-c. 1400 c.e.
Location: Western Utah
Cultures affected: Desert or Western Archaic culture, recent Paiute
Danger Cave is one of a number of caves in the hills near Wendover, Utah, to have yielded archaeological data on prehistoric Indian life. Findings in the roughly 60-by-120-foot cave include human skeletal remains, animal and plant material, tools, clothing fragments, and basketry artifacts. The findings are distributed in five or six differentiated layers, some as deep as 13 feet. Radiocarbon dating shows rather wide gaps in time between layers, indicating sporadic occupation. The number and complexity of artifacts increases from the earliest to the latest layers, but some features are common to all—particularly the milling stones which, together with remains of seeds from types of plants still growing in the area, indicate that ground seeds were a dietary staple for all the hunter-gatherers who lived in the cave.
Stone spear or dart points are also found in all layers; interestingly, arrow points appear only in the most recent. Leather moccasins, as well as antelope hairs found in fecal remains, show that animal materials were used for both food and clothing. Basketry underwent a shift from twined (wrapped around upright twigs) to coiled forms. Ceramics appear only in recent layers. About two thousand years ago, the deposits in the cave almost completely blocked its entrance and reduced its use to the rocky overhang at the front. Pottery shards of the Shoshone type in the putative sixth layer suggest relatively recent camps of Paiute tribes. Other caves in the same area as Danger Cave (Hogup, Raven, and Juke Box caves) have yielded similar archaeological finds, substantiating the conclusions about the Western Archaic life inferred from Danger Cave: relatively small groups of thirty or forty persons, probably family-related, who eked out a thin living in difficult surroundings, devoting most of their time to food-finding, with little evidence of any important ceremonial tradition.