Taphonomy of Herring Park Cave, Colorado

Vicky Black at the microscope

Department of Geology graduate student Vicky Black is identifying the faunal assemblage and its taphonomy, as well as observing any trends or changes over time, of Herring Park Cave. The cave is an overhang located in the Mosquito Range on the western border of South Park, central Colorado. The area is a montane grassland with some bristlecone and Ponderosa pine located at about 2800 meters (10,000 feet) in elevation. It was excavated in 1996-1997 by the University of Colorado at Denver for skeletal material, which was later sent to Jim Mead. A charcoal layer near the bottom of the site was dated at about 1900 years, so the assemblage is late Quaternary in age.

The material includes bison (extirpated from the area since the 1870s), deer, small carnivores, rodents and lagomorphs. Most of the material appears to be from a raptor’s roost. However, large bones were found in a packrat midden at the surface (including the bison material). These bones were chewed by packrats (Neotoma). There is no evidence of human alteration, although the Ute Indians used the area for hunting before white settlers came for mining and hunting/trapping (Simmons, 2002). Vicky plans to finish in Fall, 2006.

Reference

Simmons, Virginia McConnell (2002). Bayou Salado: the story of South Park, Revised Edition: University Press of Colorado, 280 pp.