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<< Other Photo Pages >> Meadowcroft Rockshelter - Cave or Rock Shelter in United States in Mid Atlantic

Submitted by aluta on Friday, 18 June 2010  Page Views: 35878

Natural PlacesSite Name: Meadowcroft Rockshelter Alternative Name: Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum of Rural Life
Country: United States
NOTE: This site is 6.01 km away from the location you searched for.

Region: Mid Atlantic Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Avella, PA  Nearest Village: Jefferson, PA
Latitude: 40.286624N  Longitude: 80.493854W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Meadowcroft Rockshelter
Meadowcroft Rockshelter submitted by Flickr : Meadowcroft Rockshelter This site in rural Pennsylvania contains 16,000 years of Native American history. Image copyright: BackpackingBirder, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Rock Shelter in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Meadowcroft Rockshelter is renowned, even notorious, among those who follow the controversy around the dating of the earliest occupancy of North America. When James M. Adovasio, Ph.D, the archaeologist whose name is most closely connected to the site and who performed and oversaw the greater part of the research here, had material from the lowest levels of the dig radiocarbon-dated, it came back at over 19,000 years old.

This information is disputed, however, especially by those who cling to the belief that the Clovis people were the first residents of the continent.

No one disputes that human occupation there goes back at least 12,000 years, making Meadowcroft one of the earliest documented archaeological sites in North America. The area's earliest corn (maize) was found here, dating back to the 300's B.C.E., the area's earliest squash and pottery, dating back to about 1000 B.C.E., and many artifacts have been found here, including rock flakes and tools of various types in layers dating to many eras. Researchers have found over a million animal remains at the site, many showing signs of processing and cooking.

While not a megalithic site, Meadowcroft Rockshelter has been and continues to be very influential in the effort to learn about the earliest people in North America. The Rockshelter and Museum is an important stop for those interested in the lives of of the most ancient Americans.

Note: Meadowcroft reopens. See latest comment and link.
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Meadowcroft Rockshelter
Meadowcroft Rockshelter submitted by AKFisher : Many people know of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in western Pennsylvania. It has been found to have been inhabited for some 16,000 years. Most people do not know that not far from the site are several mounds. The site Director told us about them. Photo courtesy Dr Greg Little, author of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Indian Mounds & Earthworks (2016).  (Vote or comment on this photo)

Meadowcroft Rockshelter
Meadowcroft Rockshelter submitted by Flickr : Meadowcroft Rockshelter Image copyright: Bitmapped (Brian Powell), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Meadowcroft Rockshelter
Meadowcroft Rockshelter submitted by Flickr (Vote or comment on this photo)

Meadowcroft Rockshelter
Meadowcroft Rockshelter submitted by Flickr : Meadowcroft Rockshelter overhang Image copyright: BackpackingBirder, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Flickr
218
Stateline Tunnel
Avella
WLE 6989 EMD SD40-2 - 218 - Jefferson
State Line Tunnel
Meadowcroft

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"Meadowcroft Rockshelter" | Login/Create an Account | 12 News and Comments
  
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Oldest of the Old Re: Meadowcroft by Andy B on Thursday, 15 March 2018
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UNEARTHING MYSTERIES BBC Radio 4
Could there have been humans in North America 14,000 years ago?
Tuesday 11.00-11.30am 26 November 2002

4. The Meadowcroft Rock Shelter

Aubrey Manning visits the Meadowcroft Rock Shelter near Pittsburgh to examine evidence that there were humans in North America 14,000 years ago, earlier than anyone thought possible. But how did they get there? Over the ice from the North-West or even across the Atlantic Ocean from the East?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/unearthingmysteries_20021126.shtml
[ Reply to This ]

Re: 16,000 year old Meadowcroft Rockshelter reopens today by Anonymous on Saturday, 19 June 2010
No doubt that the Meadowcroft Rockshelter is important to the real understanding of the peopling of North America, But in contrast with due respect to Dr. Adovasio's dating of 16,000 ya, at the site, he along with others was one of the first to deny the dating of 40,000 ya. found at Pedra Furada in Brazil, despite the fact that all testing at the site was proven to be accurate. so I guess payback is you know what, Also starting at a date of 40,000 ya. and possibly going back further for human habitation in the Americas, the site at Hueyatlaco, Mexico is still out there to be definitively proven or disproven-despite the fact that the site was deliberately
made "inaccesable" and all artifacts were kept locked away by force of a Mexican government official, who than forced an American agency to recant it's dating methods.
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16,000 year old Meadowcroft Rockshelter reopens today by bat400 on Friday, 18 June 2010
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Submitted by coldrum:

Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, a National Historic Landmark located in Avella, Pa., Washington County, reopens Saturday, May 1.

Meadowcroft features a 16,000-year-old Rockshelter, the oldest site of human habitation in North America, that provides ancient evidence of how the first Americans lived.

The new enclosure at Meadowcroft Rockshelter provides visitors with a unique, never-before-seen perspective into the oldest and deepest parts of this internationally-renowned archeological excavation.

For more, see
http://www.examiner.com. The story includes several you tube videos and links.
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16,000 year old Meadowcroft Rockshelter and historic village reopens by Andy B on Monday, 10 May 2010
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Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, a National Historic Landmark located in Avella, Pa., Washington County, reopened on Saturday, May 1.

The new enclosure at Meadowcroft Rockshelter provides visitors with a unique, never-before-seen perspective into the oldest and deepest parts of this internationally-renowned archeological excavation.

Meadowcroft also features several carefully recreated interpretive villages. The 17th century Indian Village provides visitors with a glimpse of life in Western Pennsylvania prior to the arrival of European settlers. Visitors can explore a recreated walled village and experience hands-on activities of everyday

More, with videos at
http://www.examiner.com/x-7002-Pittsburgh-History-Examiner~y2010m5d1-16000-year-old-Meadowcroft-Rockshelter-and-historic-village-reopens-today
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Re: Meadowcroft Rockshelter by bat400 on Monday, 09 November 2009
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Another article on the site and what a visitor will be able to see. This time from the Voice of America News. Includes photographs.
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Humans hunkered at Meadowcroft in Pennsylvania from Ice Age to Space Age by bat400 on Monday, 30 March 2009
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Submitted by coldrum -- Another article on the rockshelter with 16000 year old finds in North America. Now a National Historic Landmark.

Beer cans crumpled around a dead campfire, signs of late-night partying scorched into the sandstone. In a cutaway 15 feet below the modern fire circle, there's more charred stone, flecked with the shells of Ohio River mussels and the bones of passenger pigeons, both long extinct.

In between the two fire rings? The oldest known site of human habitation in North America, at least 16,000 years old.That's the surprise of Pennsylvania's Meadowcroft rock shelter, an inviting sandstone overhang in a tributary valley of the Ohio River that's been welcoming fishers, hunters and travelers since the Paleo-Indians. The site in Avella, 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, is now a National Historic Landmark, set amid towering sycamore and pawpaw trees. Its 52 carbon dates, in almost perfect stratigraphic order, reflect a continuous human record for 16,000-plus years.

"It was like a Paleo motel," guide Eleanor Crowe said. "People would come along Cross Creek, seven miles from the Ohio River, and stay here, from the earliest Paleo-Indians to the time of European settlement."

For more, see Dallas News.
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Re: Pa. site puts people in North America 16,000 years ago - Improvements at Meadowcr by Anonymous on Wednesday, 12 November 2008
I do not doubt the claims by Dr. Adovasio, but it's somewhat confusing first to see a dating for 14,000 years ago, than a 16,000 years date, and now the mention of 19,000 years date. without stating what exactly was found for such an early date in connection with human habitation.
I also found the repetition of the "Clovis First" theory, more than boring, it's as though one has to acknowledge this outdated theory and it's adherents in order to proceed with new discoveries. Similiar to the use of the phrase "like Stonehenge"
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Pa. site puts people in North America 16,000 years ago - Improvements at Meadowcroft. by bat400 on Tuesday, 11 November 2008
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Submitted by coldrum. A mixed review of the re-opening of the site to visitors ---

Meadowcroft is a word very familiar to archaeologists and less to tourists. But that could be changing.

The world-famous Meadowcroft Rockshelter, a rock overhang southwest of Pittsburgh, has reshaped thought on what prehistoric people first came to North America and when. Now the cave is striving to become a bigger tourist draw.

Improvements costing $1.3 million include a wooden roof that better protects the archaeological site and a wooden deck that improves accessibility for visitors. The site reopened last May with the improvements in place. It had been closed since 2007.

Previously, views of the dig were poor and the site — a National Historic Landmark — could handle only a few visitors at a time. Public tours were not offered until 2003.

Meadowcroft draws people familiar with its story. Visitors are shown a seven-minute video about the archaeological site, which is believed to be the earliest site of human habitation in North America.

Then you drive your car down the hill and climb 95 steps to the rock shelter itself. There, a guide turns overhead stage lights on and off to show where certain features are found and to explain a little bit of the Meadowcroft story. You get to look at the hole in the ground from two angles for about 10 minutes. Then the $10 tour abruptly ends.

The site, used by Ice Age hunters around 14,000 B.C., is not overly big. The rock shelter is about 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep, with a ceiling about 48 feet above. It was larger before stones from the ceiling fell to the cave’s floor.

You can see reddish stains that mark fire pits, and the guide points out deer bones and mussel shells that stick out of the layers of dirt that were carefully excavated. Hundreds of circular tags still stick out of the soil to mark age and location within the dig.

However, Meadowcroft has a very compelling and interesting story that could be better told and explained to casual visitors.

Meadowcroft was used 16,000 years ago as a temporary campsite by Paleo-Indians, making it the oldest archaeological site in North America.
It faces to the south, catches breezes and sits 50 feet above Cross Creek, which flows into the Ohio River. There are two springs for drinking water.

The story of Meadowcroft begins in 1955, when landowner Albert Miller stumbled across a groundhog hole. He used a shovel to enlarge the hole and came across a flint knife, burnt bone and flint. He filled in the hole and began a search for archaeologists to excavate the overhang.

In 1973, Dr. James Adovasio, then at the University of Pittsburgh, began excavating the Meadowcroft Rockshelter. Adovasio and his crew excavated layer after layer and eventually found stone tools and evidence of fire pits. In places, the excavations went down 10 to 15 feet.

The site has produced 20,000 human artifacts, 956,000 animal bones and 1.4 million plant remains — the largest collection of plant and animal remains in a single place in North America.
The most common evidence uncovered was reddish-stained fire pits and large burned areas of fire floors, refuse and storage pits, concentrations of stone artifacts, ceramic pottery and bone suggesting specialized work areas and roasting pits.

Tools uncovered include awls made from the bones of deer and turkey, bone fishhooks, bone-and-wood snare triggers and bones used to scrape the flesh off hides. Other items include bone beads and bone buttons. More artifacts found include baskets made from birch bark, woven mats, 33 species of corn and flaked stone projectile points.

About two-thirds of the Meadowcroft site has been excavated. None of the materials uncovered is on display at Meadowcroft, although such an exhibit is in the works, officials said.

The Pennsylvania excavations directed by Adovasio, now at Mercyhurst College in Erie, P

Read the rest of this post...
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Renovating a historic home by Andy B on Monday, 23 June 2008
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Renovating a historic home

The Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum in western Pennsylvania is getting a lot of attention this week, as it reopens the archaeological site of a 16,000-year-old human habitation. It had been closed to the public for a year for renovations.The idea of renovating a dwelling after 16,000 years is intriguing. They could have called in a television team consisting of the guys from This Old House, that Extreme Makeover crew and those cavemen from the insurance commercials.

Radioactive carbon testing in 1974 of remnants of burned firewood determined the age of the domicile, making it probably the oldest known human habitation in North America. A good renovation project would replace that fireplace with a gas grille. And a stone-age homeowner might be pleased that granite is all the rage for kitchen counters.

The archaeologists found signs that the folks living there had been cooking venison, and eating shellfish from the Ohio River. The original occupants probably didn't feel the need for renovations. They never had problems with plumbing, heating or other such extravagances. It was Pleistocene Time, and the living was easy. The recent renovations, funded by a $2 million state grant, added a shelter and a stairway, so visitors can get a better look at the ancient residence, and observe the archaeologists in their natural environment.

A local farmer named Albert Miller first came upon the site on a bluff of rock in the 1950s, finding a flint knife and other evidence of human activity. In 1969, Miller's family established the Meadowcroft Foundation. In 1973, he showed his discovery to James Adovasio, an archaeologist (then of University of Pittsburgh, now of Mercyhurst College in Erie,) and the digging commenced. Stairs to the spot were built in 2003, and public tours began.
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The Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum of Rural Life was formed, and one thing led to another, as happens at such places. Now there is a nearby recreated 19th century village with log cabins, a blacksmith shop, a covered bridge, and nice ladies in costume teaching people to make apple butter.

An authentic 17th century Indian village is under development. Can an amusement park be far off?Since 1993, the whole enterprise has been run by the Sen. John Heinz History Center, a history museum in downtown Pittsburgh.

That institution includes an H. J. Heinz Co. exhibit where you can learn how old-time pickle packers packed pickles, using a wooden spoon. There is also a sports museum, where you can gaze upon Franco Harris's shoes, Mario Lemieux's skates and Arnold Palmer's golf bag. Meanwhile, back at the 16,000-year-old homestead, they've scheduled an Atlati Weekend for June 21 and 22. An atlati is a prehistoric spear-throwing device.

Be prepared to duck. A July 4 celebration is also planned. It will be fascinating to learn how prehistoric people observed the holiday. For the serious-minded, Dr. Adovasio will lead tours on July 19, Sept. 13 and Nov. 11. Reservations are required. Try meadowcroft.pghhistory.org.

http://www.southjerseylocalnews.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Weekly?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_wk_article&r21.pgpath=%2FSJL%2FOpinion%2FPlain+Dealer&r21.content=%2FSJL%2FOpinion%2FPlain+Dealer%2FContentTab_Feature_2055417
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Pennsylvania archaeological site Reopening after renovation project by bat400 on Saturday, 10 May 2008
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AVELLA, Pa. - A Washington County archaeological site believed to contain some of the earliest traces of humans in North America is set to reopen after being closed for nearly a year for renovations.

The Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum of Rural Life will reopen Saturday with a new $1.3 million structure that will give visitors an unprecedented view of the excavation of the site thought to be a 16,000-year-old campground.

The state invested $2 million through a grant to expand public access to the site near Avella, about 30 miles west of Pittsburgh. The renovation plan included new walkways and restrooms, the widening of an access road, and other improvements.

"There really is no facility that lets you see an excavation like this in North or South America," said James Adovasio, an archaeologist working at the site and executive director of the Archaeology Institute at Mercyhurst College in Erie.

Situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking Cross Creek, an Ohio River tributary, the site was discovered by Albert Miller, who found a flint knife in layers of dirt that had accumulated on the outcrop. Radiocarbon tests in 1974 indicated that burnt firewood from the site was 16,000 years old , older than 11,000-year-old artifacts recovered near Clovis, New Mexico, long considered the oldest evidence of people in North America.

As Adovasio began excavating the site and word spread, visitors began showing up. In 2003, stairs were built and regular public tours began. About 13,000 people visited the site in 2006, according to Scofield.

"Visitors will be right here to watch as new discoveries are made," Scofield, director of Meadowcroft, said.

For more, see the Associated Press.
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Oldest of the Old Re: Meadowcroft by Aluta on Tuesday, 29 August 2006
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It's certainly the most important archaeological site in Pennsylvania, with the possible exception of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, which is important in a whole different way--great stuff from Sumeria, Mayan steles, etc.--stuff that probably shouldn't be there, but now that it is, makes a pretty impressive and educational collection. Also highly recommended for locals interested in these subjects.
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Oldest of the Old Re: Meadowcroft by bat400 on Monday, 28 August 2006
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Thank you for posting this.
A keystone location. (In more ways than one.)
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