Radiocarbon age determination of a rock painting at Arnold/Tainter Cave, Wisconsin

Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, Spring 2001 by Steelman, Karen L, Rowe, Marvin W, Boszhardt, Robert F, Southon, John R

In fact, deer antler racks often do curve, and the Panel 5 rendering compares nicely with silhouettes on many modern traffic signs warning of deer crossings. All of the evidence suggests, therefore, that the drawing was probably intended to represent a deer or perhaps an elk. Whether deer or elk, the arcing antler rack and the infilled body are distinct from previously known rock art depictions in this region and therefore represent a new style.

The age of cal. A.D. 780 is consistent with the use of the bow and arrow in the region. It is possible that the "caribou" drawing and those of the deer in Chamber II are the same age. Lacking direct radiocarbon age determinations for the whitetailed deer images in Chamber II, no conclusions can be drawn regarding their antiquity. However, there is no obvious superimposition of drawings anywhere in the cave, which suggests some broad contemporaneity.

Previously, a conventional ^sup 14^C age determination was obtained for charcoal recovered from an exposure beneath the roof collapse in Chamber I. This age determination (BGS-2218) is A.D. 382 /- 50, or cal. A.D. 535. Four diagnostic ceramic sherds have thus far been recovered from slumped floor deposits at the rear of Chamber 1 (Boszhardt 2000). These sherds are all consistent with types of Linn ware, which is affiliated with the Millville phase (Stoltman 1991). The Millville phase dates to ca. A.D. 200-500. Occupation of the cave, therefore, could have been contemporaneous with the period of image production, but additional radiocarbon age determinations are necessary to confirm the association.

Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training. Karen L. Steelman was partially supported by a Regent's Fellowship from the Office of the Vice-Provost for Research at Texas A&M University. We thank Kenneth Tainter for permission to sample the rock paintings. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract W-7405-Eng-48.

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