The two articles in this series can both be
used both by Experimental Archaeologists and Historical Trekkers of the late 18th
and early 19th centuries, and by people who are interested in
wilderness survival. For a video, watch “Sleeping Rough Old-School: How to
Overnight in a Rock Shelter ©”, HERE. – Author’s note.
You are trekking through
the woods along a ridgeline, when ahead of you, you see a cliff and a shallow
cave, under an overhang. As you walk
closer, you notice that it has both an excellent view of the valley below and a
dry, sheltered spot under the overhang.
Maybe you thought as you
walked closer, “I wonder what this type of shallow cave is called?” You might also have thought, “how was this
shallow cave formed?” Or maybe you
thought, “in the past did wilderness travelers ever camp in a shelter like this?”
These are all good
questions, so sit back and “ruminate, whilst I illuminate”2.
That shallow cave at the
base of the cliff is a rock shelter. Rock
shelters are also sometimes called, slant-rocks, overhangs, rock-houses, or
half-caves; and are different from caves.
Figure 3-1, from “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania: Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation
From Archaeological Spatial Data”, by Joseph Allen Burns, page 72.
Rock shelters are a
sheltered space, made when a harder rock lies on top of a softer rock, which
has been eroded away by flowing
water or by the frost wedging of the freeze-thaw cycle, leaving
an overhanging roof. Rock shelters have
five areas, an overhanging ceiling, a sheltered floor, a dripline, an outside
slope and most importantly, a backwall.
The dripline is the boundary between outside of the shelter and the protected
interior. The most important area in a
rock shelter is the backwall, which will radiate heat back from the fire and is
the most protected spot in the shelter.
Rock shelters found in the Appalachian Ridge
and Valley system of the Middle Atlantic United States are formed of sandstone,
quartzite, limestone, conglomerate, granite, or gneiss, and are found either, along
lowland valley rivers or uplands where the rocky outcrops are exposed. Throughout the Appalachian Ridge and Valley
system, rock shelters began when a river cut steep or vertical valley walls and
undercut weaker rocks to create an initial overhang. This overhang is then slowly enlarged by
frost wedging of the roof and back walls throughout the centuries. Upland rock shelters throughout this region
are created by frost wedging and are typically shallow, while lowland rock
shelters, due to the greater erosive force of rivers and streams, are usually
larger.
True caves are different from rock shelters in
several significant ways, but most importantly caves have extensive “dark
zones” which were often visited during both the historic and prehistoric
times but were seldom inhabited. And
while caves are different from rock shelters, cave mouths or vestibules, as
they are sometimes known, offer similar advantages for shelter as do rock
shelters. Generally, rock shelters are
wider than they are deep, and caves are deeper than they are wide3.
Hikers
camping in Slant-Rock Camp, in the Adirondacks, in the early 1900s. An excerpt from The Conservationist, August
1920, Vol. III, Number 8, page 114.
Rock shelters or
half-caves, whether they are shelving rocks, overhanging ledges, piles of boulders,
or a wide shallow cave at the base of a cliff, all are a ready-made, natural
shelters. Many rock shelters require no
modifications, although they can be made more comfortable and weatherproof by
closing off the open front or sides with branches, bark, skins, or mats and by
building a fire and a reflector. Our
ancestors have used rock shelters as campsites for thousands of years. Rock shelters have provided dry places for
people to live for a few days, weeks, or even for months: they are warm in the
winter and cool in the summer. Rock
shelters come in many different sizes, some are small, and others are surprisingly
quite large. They were first used by
Native Americans, who were following game or travelling at a distance from their
home villages, and later by Euro-American explorers and travelers of the late
18th and early 19th centuries. Both groups made extensive use of these
shelters whenever they could be found. The
Mohegan, Lenape and other Algonquin speaking Native Americans, who travelled
throughout the area between the Ramapo and the Hudson Rivers, in the American
states of New Jersey and New York, called these shelters “asiniwikams”,
which translates as “stone-hunting-houses”4. Euro-American travelers and hunters, during
the late 18th and early 19th centuries, called them
over-hangs, rock-houses, or half-caves.
An excerpt from Shelters, Shacks and Shanties,
1914, by Daniel Carter Beard, page 9.
Rock shelters of the Appalachian
Ridge and Valley system of the eastern United States, during both the
prehistoric and historic time periods, were mainly used as short-term campsites
by hunters or foraging groups for a few hours up to a few days. Additionally, archaeologists and
ethno-archaeologist believe that these shelters were most often used when the
weather was cold or wet: during good weather open air sites were preferred.
Photograph taken November 12, 2017 in the Allegheny
Highlands, this
rock shelter faces west to southwest and is within 300 feet (approximately 90
meters) of the summit of a 2,100 foot (640 meter) high hill. From the author’s collection.
Don’t forget to come back next week for “Rock
Shelters or Half-Caves, That Home Away From Home, Part Two ©”, where we will
talk about how to safely overnight in a rock shelter, if ever you become “misplaced”.
I hope that you continue to enjoy The
Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions
for other related videos, HERE. Don’t
forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on
YouTube. If you have questions, as
always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric
Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds,
so watch for me.
That is all for now, and as always, until next
time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1 For more information on my promise to you, the reader, read “The End of
2018 and the Beginning of 2019 ©”, HERE
2 I love the 1992 movie, Aladdin, and my favorite song is a
“Friend Like Me”, and I just couldn’t resist sliding a quote from the song into
my article.
3 From “Prehistoric
Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania: Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From
Archaeological Spatial Data”, by Allen Joseph Burns.
4 From Meade C. Dobson, “Indian Rock Shelters In Interstate Park”.
Sources
Beard, Daniel Carter; Shelters, Shacks and Shanties, [Charles
Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1920], p 7-9, https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5QadpEyDmXt5kfeKp90NdM4S_HNL-UyglNES6KwpPBSe9gsUnUnwGm9E5F-HkPLJx6bXXqFk_fOcAjx-JQZeN8XIWYJDWBDPVOthfeExZBWogDoYhDuyZQyW9e00iGBXRDYJt9RUeOMwUGJQ8sntxGZJtYHf4IWYcX0TIDvpbW85MCR6dMFja691Oi9rO95mwDXIaHDv63PZPsqARVdoYg5SFVn2iLh0iBQcg5IxR71IEUOXK78iFiwNrfHQziuVHHl6E2c-bVoK9W5IySSH-gj38AIJTmg, accessed November 4, 2020
Burns, Allen Joseph; “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania:
Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From Archaeological Spatial Data”,
August, 2009, https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1OKWM_enUS921US921&ei=da6FX5vbD72JytMP0JCMkAM&q=rock+shelter+drip+line+hearth&oq=rock+shelter+drip+line+hearth&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAE6BAgAEEc6BQghEKsCOggIIRAWEB0QHjoHCCEQChCgAVC9R1ipU2DiWGgAcAJ4AIABVogBxgOSAQE3mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBBcABAQ&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjb6ZKK2bHsAhW9hHIEHVAIAzIQ4dUDCA0&uact=5, page 72, accessed October 13, 2020
Dobson, Meade C.; “Indian Rock Shelters In Interstate Park”, The
Conservationist, January 1921; Vol. IV. Number 1, [New
York State Conservation Commission, Albany, NY; 1921], pages 11-13, https://books.google.com/books?id=P_owAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA191&dq=%22the+conservationist%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjw3pqSkbjdAhUlh-AKHdauAL4Q6AEIPDAE#v=onepage&q=%22the%20conservationist%22&f=false, accessed September 18, 2018
“Slant-Rock Camp on the Marcy Trail”, The
Conservationist, August 1920; Vol. III, Number 8, [New York State Conservation
Commission, Albany, NY; 1920], Page Frontispiece, https://books.google.com/books?id=P_owAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA191&dq=%22the+conservationist%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjw3pqSkbjdAhUlh-AKHdauAL4Q6AEIPDAE#v=onepage&q=%22the%20conservationist%22&f=false, accessed September 18, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment