Caves form within lithified (cemented) rocks, most characteristically a wide variety of carbonate rocks (dolomite and limestone in particular) or sandstones. Much less commonly, however, caves can be found in other rock types, such as extrusive igneous lava tubes, salt (for example, Mt. Sedom, Israel) or, as in the case of the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, within soft marls or other unconsolidated sediments. 1 Here we emphasize karst or carbonate environments, as they represent the majority of archeological cave environments. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Humans explored deep caves, engaged in mineral mining, performed rituals, and produced art; however, they did not use cave interiors as longterm habitation areas. Within deep cave systems, surfaces typically remain stable for long periods of time, up to millions of years, so these characteristically sparse archeological records are usually on the same surface and rarely involve stratigraphy. 9 Most cave-related archeological studies focus on cave entrances, specifically areas at and within the entrance where light is limited but still present, which often are called twilight zones. Here, sediments from multiple sources accumulate, resulting in complex stratigraphic sequences that provide some of the best windows available into human prehistory. In this review we concentrate on these cave entrances, which are characterized by subterranean passages and larger chambers than those of rockshelters and shallow rock recesses, which exist completely within the reaches of natural light, ambient temperature, and moisture conditions. 10,11 Rockshelters and their sediments are more susceptible to the atmosphere. As a result, the depositional and postdepositional processes acting in rockshelter settings are somewhat different from those in caves, more akin to open-air sites. Sediments in rockshelter environments have been the focus on sevThroughout human history, caves and rockshelters have been favored habitation places. These unique environments preserve sediments derived from an assortment of geological and human processes that are typically absent or masked at open-air sites. Cave sediments are parts of larger stratigraphic frameworks that can reflect environmental changes, shifting microenvironments, and the nature of human activity within these confined and sheltered spaces. Stone tools and faunal material compose the artifact assemblages from caves that are typically studied. Cave sediments, on the other hand, which encase the archeological finds and which have both geological and human origins, have been understudied relative to traditional artifacts, in spite of their ubiquity and importance. Thus, anthropogenic sediments, the most striking of which are organic-rich deposits, and combustion features merit the same attention as any other artifacts that result from human activities and behaviors.The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the most salient aspects of prehistoric cave sediments and the processes revealed by recent studies of these ac...

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Dust Cave (1Lu496) is a habitation site in a karstic vestibule in the middle Tennessee River Valley of Northern Alabama. The cave, periodically occupied over 7,000 years, contains well-preserved bone and botanical materials and exhibits microstratigraphy and intact occupation surfaces. The chronostratigraphic framework for Dust Cave is based on 43 14C dates, temporally diagnostic artifacts, and detailed geoarchaeological analysis. In a broad sense, five cultural components are defined and designated: Quad/Beaver Lake/Dalton (10,650–9200 cal B.C.), Early Side-Notched (10,000–9000 cal B.C.), Kirk Stemmed (8200–5800 cal B.C.), Eva/Morrow Mountain (6400 to 4000 cal B.C.), and Benton (4500–3600 cal B.C.). Microstratigraphic and artifact analyses indicate that the primary differences in the deposits over time relate to intensity of activity and spatial organization with regard to changing conditions in the cave, not to the types of activities. Geomorphic transformations influenced the timing of occupation at Dust Cave, especially the initial occupation. The chronostratigraphy provides a framework for assessing the stratigraphic separation of Dalton and Early Side-Notched materials, the shift in technology from blades to bifacial tools, and the context of detailed flora and fauna evidence. These remains provide unique insights into forager adaptations in the Midsouth from the end of the Pleistocene through the first half of the Holocene.

Despite their evident utility in archaeological analysis, microartifacts (those artifacts smaller than 2 mm) have, as a class, been used only sparingly by archaeologists and then only as if they were larger artifacts. This article explores the variable information microartifacts contain, using a case study from the Loy Site, a Mississippian village in East Tennessee. We show that microartifacts provide different information from that obtained from macroartifacts. We also demonstrate that comparisons among different size classes provide new information on dynamic aspects of artifact deposition. Especially in spatial analysis, comparing distributions of different size artifacts enhances our interpretative capabilities over any single artifact size class.

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