The Wisconsin Speleologist The Science of Caves June 2008 The Wisconsin Speleologist Page 1 Wisconsin Speleological Society WSS Executive Officers: Table of Contents Chairman: Kasey Fiske No Crevice too Narrow; No Tunnel Too Deep 2 Written by John H. Broihahn Vice Chairman: Treasurer/Secretary: David Sheffer Scott Moll Geologic History of New Hope Cave, 7 Manitowoc County Wisconsin Board of Directors: Madison Chapter Board Written by John Luczaj and Ronald Stieglitz Members: Profiles in Maribel New Hope Cave 18 Bob Bultman Larry Buchholz Gary Emerson Photos by: Letha Welch Dave Gramling Jennifer Schehr Allan Schema Model Cave Protection Act 21 Written by Henry L. Welch The Wisconsin Speleologist Published by: Front Cover: Scott Moll Henry Welch and JD Skattebo in Maribel New Hope Cave 8031 S. Forest Meadows Dr. Photo by Letha Welch Franklin, WI 53132 [email protected] Back Cover: Photos and Text by Letha Welch The Hollow Earth News is the official monthly newsletter of The WSS usually meets at 11:00 a.m. on the 3rd Saturday of the Wisconsin Speleological Society, a grotto of the National every month at the Ledge View Nature Center at W 2348 Speleological Society. Exchanges and inquiries, as well as Short Road Chilton, Wisconsin, 53014. This schedule some- articles for publication, should be sent to the editor’s address times changes and WSS meetings are held at other locations. listed above. Please refer to the latest issue of The Hollow Earth News for updated information. The Madison Chapter of the WSS nor- WSS web page: http//www.caves.org/grotto/wss mally meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Middleton Public Library in Middleton, Wisconsin Annual membership in the WSS is $12.00 per individual and unless otherwise noted. Visitors and guest are welcome to $15.00 per family. The WSS Membership Year begins on the attend. The WSS strongly advocates safe caving and caving 1st of June and ends on May 31st of the following year. related activities. However, neither the WSS nor its members Please prorate and pay accordingly so that your membership can guarantee the safety of anyone participating in these ac- ends in May: Individual $1 per month, Family Membership tivities and are not responsible for injuries, illnesses, deaths or $1.25 per month. Include your NSS number and any informa- financial losses during to such participation. The WSS and its tion that you want in the WSS database and printed in the members do not necessarily endorse or agree with the opinions annual Membership List. and articles in The Hollow Earth News and the Wisconsin Speleologist, or with opinion and articles presented in any Send remittance and changes of address to other WSS publications and cannot guarantee the accuracy or validity of them. WSS c/o Scott Moll 8031 S. Forest Meadows Dr. Franklin WI 53132 The Wisconsin Speleologist Page 2 No Crevice too Narrow; No Tunnel Too Deep John H. Broihahn ( [email protected] ) State Archeologist 816 State St. Madison, WI 53706-1482 Archaeologists as well as cavers and historians have long known about the importance of caves, especially “dark zone” caves, in North American history. Archaeological investi- gations have been carried out in caves since the 1960s, but they have been limited in their nature and extent. As all of you know, caves are, or certainly can be, challenging places to explore and to carry out recording and mapping. In 1996, archaeologists from the University of Tennessee formed the Cave Archaeology Research Team (CART) to iden- tify and document evidence of human use in a large numbers of caves, particularly “dark- zone “ caves. What they have discovered is that no crevice seems too narrow, nor tunnel too deep to have gone unexplored by someone hundreds, and often thousands, of years ago. CART explorations have revealed that American Indians ventured into caves to make rock art, perform rituals, mine and quarry chert and minerals, live, explore, and bury their dead. By-and-large these evidences of use have been identified in dry caves, i.e., caves where water erosion is no longer active. Perhaps the most dramatic and thought provoking evidence of human presence are the myriad of images carved and painted by the American Indian explorers. The images you see illustrated in the accompanying panels are a representative sample of the type of art you may have encountered in Wisconsin rock shelters and caves. Rock art has been iden- tified most frequently on sandstone, but we suspect you may also see the art on lime- stone. In the caves of the Appalachians, images have even been seen that were carved into the clay adhering to the ceilings, walls, and floors of caves. Mud glyphs have not yet been identified in Wisconsin. Both carved and painted images have been recorded on rock in Wisconsin. The carving (petroglyphs) was done with bone, stone, wood, and antler tools. Pigments for the paint- ings (pictographs) were derived from galena, charcoal, hematite/limonite, limestone, clay, and other materials. These pigments may have been mixed with a binder, to help it stick to the rock, or in other cases, may have been applied directly to the stone. They were ap- plied with bone or antler “brushes,” twigs, or fingers. Both types of rock art can be easily damaged; simply brushing or rubbing against a panel can remove the art. Mud glyphs are even more fragile. American Indians in Wisconsin began making rock art at least three thousand years ago to communicate with the spirit world, with each other, and with other groups. Interpret- ing rock art is still a “new science.” Some of the shapes and images are obvious. We can identify deer, bows-and-arrows, and people or spirit beings. But what stories they tell, what meaning, or meanings, they covey and why they were painted and carved remain a mystery. The Wisconsin Speleologist Page 3 In addition to rock art, you may come across evidence of earlier exploration in the form of torches, smudging, wall scarring, and tracks. Birch bark torches, and in one case a moccasin, have been recovered from dark zone caves in Wisconsin. The torches may be preserved along the edges of caves near where the walls and floor join. Smudging could be present on the ceilings or walls. Scratches and scrape marks may be present in tight spots. American Indians used flint or chert, galena, hematite, and other minerals for thou- sands of years in Wisconsin. Some of these materials were simply collected after they were loosened and exposed by natural processes. In other cases, however, American Indians actively mined and quarried for the materials they wanted. Chert was the most widely used tool stone in Wisconsin. Sandstone was used for grinding tools and abrading other materials. In places where the sandstone contains much greater amounts of silica and is extremely hard (it is classified as a quartzite), it was quarried and used to make a variety of stone tools. The quartzite and chert occur in lenses in the bedrock and as nodules. Evidence of quarrying should appear as ham- mer and pounding marks, as battering, and possibly as scraping on the walls and floors of caves. Evidence of quarrying may also be seen in the form of broken nod- ules and chips and smaller broken pieces of stone. These chips may occur in tight clusters and piles. People do not seem to have lived, or spent extended periods of time, in deep caves. You may still find hearths, charcoal, burned wood, burned and broken rocks, or some evidence of camping, but it seems people more often lived in the entrances to caves. In some cases, the crevice cave may seem too small for camping, but careful examination may reveal pieces of pottery, stone tools, chips, and food debris. Human burials do occur in rock shelters and caves in Wisconsin. They have most frequently been exposed by archaeological excavations, but they have also been ex- posed through erosion or rodent digging. They may also occur on the surface. If you encounter human remains, leave them in place and notify the local authorities (police or sheriff). They can take the lead in deciding if it is a forensic case, or if they need to call the Wisconsin Historical Society at 1-800-342-7834. As you might guess, rock art sites, quarry sites, campsites, and burials in caves are extremely rare and fragile. Wisconsin currently has 152 recorded rock art sites, most in southwest Wisconsin, an area with many exposed bedrock outcroppings. The rock art sites and campsites have been identified most frequently in rock shel- ters. Sites located deeper in caves are extremely unusual and warrant special consid- eration. Protecting these non-renewable resources starts with identification. One of the things you can do to ensure the long-term preservation of these types is to report them. We have included a form in the newsletter. In addition to the locational infor- mation, a sketch map pinpointing the location of the site in the cave is important. The verbal description and the map should be sufficient to enable someone else to return to the site location. And of course, pictures of the site are invaluable. The Wisconsin Speleologist Page 4 Including something for scale in the images is always helpful. In order to protect these sites, we do restrict access to the information, so the report- ing of a site in a special cave or passage way will not become widely known. In a limited number of instances, access to caves and shelters has been limited as a protective meas- ure.