Emphasis on publication as a means of "spreading knowledge* was expressed by the Smithsonian's first Secretary. O u r investigations in the 1960s revealed that the Sandia deposit (unit X) is, in fact, a rodent deposit created by the bioturbation of lemon ocher ( unit C) and contains material derived from most other deposits. Paleoclimatic interpretations of the stratigraphic units include (1) a warm humid period for ocher derivation by leaching from a pedalferic paleosol formed during an earlier humid period of cold, 2) ocher drying during a dry climate, (3) bedrock formation during a cold wet period, (4) precipitation of gypsum (unit E) due to dry period or cave opening or both, and (5) dust and debris accumulation (units F and H) under dry conditions alternating with dripstone (units G and I) and breccia cementation under wet conditions.
Based on his interpretation of the data from the Sandia Cave deposits, Hibben proposed a new theory of Solutrean origins for New World cultures. In fact, the issues surrounding Sandia Cave have not yet been resolved, nor even the question of the age of human habitation. However, without the solution of the first two problems, further discussions about a 'Sandia culture' will remain pointless.
This research report is presented in the Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology Series as part of the Paleo-Indian Research Program. We found that r e m n a n t s of the strata still existed in the excavated front part of the cave. From this data, the reader will understand why there is no simple answer to the question of the age of the sandia artifacts.
In fact, the original excavations in the front part of the cave ended at meter 24.
Vance Haynes, Jr
On the north wall at meter 1 1 a remnant of the lower breech overlaps and covers a broken one. This material is one of the most stable formations in the cave and apparently extended in all or most of the cave deposits, al-. In some places it is a flowstone that rests directly on the limestone where the walls bulge towards the center of the cave (Figure 2).
The tubular forms are longer and best preserved in the silicified parts of the ocher (Figure 4 D. Total thicknesses of half a meter or more occur in a channel cut into the limestone floor of the cave. Apparently this was found somewhere takes place over time: the transition from the phreatic stage of cave history to the subbareal stage.
T he projection intersects the general slope of the cave floor 10 or more meters outside the cave. It is therefore concluded that the iron and silica of the ocher came from a trapper. T he cracks and flaking indicate the drying up of the ocher deposit and imply a change to a drier climate outside the cave.
Therefore, a continuous period of isolation of the cave interior from the outside is strongly indicated. Locally, the gypsum layer extends up to as much as 30 cm up the walls of the cave. Current indications are that the gypsum deposits of the cave are restricted to local depressions.
The end of calcite deposition probably resulted from the depletion of carbonates in solution. This crust is not visible in the front part of the cave; i.e., from meter 23 to the mouth. In either case, the upper pointstone indicates conditions too humid for comfortable human occupation of the cave.
It is therefore possible that part of the lime for the stalactites had a pedogenic source. This lies above the original rock surface of the cave floor in places, and in other sections small. Occupation of the cave by rodents and humans was possible at any time after deposition of the gypsum crust (unit E), but rodent penetration of the ocher was not likely until after the lower stalactite had been broken by natural rockfalls or possibly by humans to acquire yellow ocher for use as a pigment (red when fired).
T he lower stalactite (unit D) was fractured and disrupted before the accumulation of the lower breccia (unit F) in the front part of the cave.
Meter 3 4
Paleo-Indian mining would also explain the fracture of the lower point stone at meter 2 3. In the back positions of the cave, meters 72 to 83, highly jointed and fragmented ocher is cemented by calcium carbonate that may represent both the lower point (unit D) and the upper points (units G and I). After the deposition of the upper dripstone (unit I) the cave dried out and the upper cave debris (unit J) accumulated during the late occupation.
Secondary deposition of Unit X by rodent activity in the soft parts of the ocher (Unit C) probably began immediately after the sudden opening of the pit, which is indicated in the stratigraphy by the gypsum crust (Unit E) and dust within. The association of breccias with dry episodes in the cave environment and stalactites with wet episodes seems obvious, but correlations with similar environments (climates) outside the cave are not so obvious. The absence of cave sedimentary response to external climatic fluctuations may be due to the lack of sufficient amplitude in this part of the southwestern United States, but there is good evidence to the contrary (Wendorf and Hester, 1975; Bachhuber, 1970).
Contamination of such samples is usually with younger carbon, but in the geochemical environment of the cave there is an abundant supply of "dead" carbon, both organic and inorganic, in the Paleozoic limestone. T he lower stalactite (unit D) was formed throughout most of the cave by water flowing down the walls, while the upper and intermediate stalactites were formed from water flowing down the roof and along the sides mostly in the front part of the. In this unlikely case, the roof fragments between units D and E do not reflect the opening of the cave mouth as previously assumed.
The earliest possible date for human settlement of the cave would be after the enlargement of the cave mouth, as indicated by the rockfalls and gypsum crust. Human settlement of the cave would have been possible during the same time period. Another possibility to consider is that the Sandia artifacts from the lower loose debris date to a post-breccia cementation period and are therefore smaller than the ca.
A caveat that must be kept in mind, however, is that the detailed stratigraphic relationships between units F to I have been destroyed by the previous excavations in the central part of the cross-section shown in Figure 2. A problem with this scenario is that the lithic technology manifested in most of the Sandia points is not like that of Clovis or Folsom. Extended notes should be collected and placed in a notes section at the end of the text.
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