Lovelock cave was named for Lovelock, Nevada which
is about 22 miles north of the cave in Humboldt County. The limestone cave is
about 150 feet long and it’s widest area is 35 feet wide.Lovelock cave was named for Lovelock, Nevada which
is about 22 miles north of the cave in Humboldt County. The limestone cave is
about 150 feet long and it’s widest area is 35 feet wide.
In 1911 guano miners started using the cave for a source of bat guano. While bringing out the guano some of the miners noticed artifacts in it. The miners notified authorities and in 1924 two archaeologists, Llewellyn L. Loud from the University of California, Berkeley and Mark R. Harrington from the Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation, came to excavate. When they got there they found one of the richest sites in America. In just four months Loud and Harrington excavated 10,000 artifacts. They worked on the mine for several years and published their report in 1929 through the University of California. Research had been continued through the 1950’s and 1960’s.
The cave is located next to an ancient lake, Lake Lahontan, which dried out about 1400 years ago. It is estimated that hunter-gatherer tribes visited the site as early as 4,600 years ago and the cave was intensively occupied about 3,500 years ago until just 150 years ago. All of the evidence helps to support the theory that the cave has been inhabited on and off for over 9,000 years. Scientists believe that the people who lived there probably made a type of shelter near the opening of the cave and the cave itself was used for storage and protection when the weather was bad. As time went on the cave became abandoned and the interior floor covered with dirt. Later, an earthquake caved in the opening of the cave, restricting access to bats and desert animals.
Throughout the excavations there have been many interesting finds. Due to the arid land and constant temperature of the cave, many artifacts were preserved which would normally be gone quickly. Objects such as baskets, clothes, plant fiber sandals, nets, snares for small animals, fishing line with bone fish hooks and stone knives with wooden handles were all found in the cave.
When Loud was excavating the cave he found many pits believed to be used
for storage. Theses pits varied in size and shape but were mostly pot like with
a bigger bottom than top. In one of the pits, after
carefully removing all objects, they found a false bottom,
underneath were the famous duck decoys. There were both finished and unfinished
decoys- the finished product having real feathers added to give it a realistic
appearance. These decoys were made from marsh bulrush, or tule. The most
curious thing about the decoys was that they were each individually wrapped and
the owner had take great care in concealing them from others.
Lewis Kyle Napton analyzed the diet for the occupants through the human coprolites preserved in the cave. He found fish bone, animal bone, land plant seeds and bulrush seeds, which indicates the people utilized much of the available lake environment as well as the land environment.
Some 30 years after the cave was used by the guano miners, enough data was collected for Robert Heizer of the University of California to form some hypothesis. He divided the time of the inhabitants of the cave into three time periods
1. Humbolt Culture, between 9,000 and 7,000 years ago
2. Leonard Culture, between 6,000 and 3,500 years ago
3. Loveland Culture, from 3,500 to 1,000 years ago. (This is theculture of the duck decoys.)
Falcon Hill Press: "Lovelock Cave: A Brief History of the Site Where the Oldest Dated Decoys in North America were Found" http://www.calwaterfowl.org/news/cw/95decjan/lovelock.htm