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Conley-Greene

Site ID: 15El4

Rockshelter
Elliott
Kentucky Archaeological Survey Kentucky Archaeological Survey (from the Collection of the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology)
Unless specified, we cannot provide site location information.

Summary

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Conley-Greene (15El4) is a small rockshelter that sits within the headwaters of Tygarts Creek in Elloitt County. Excavations by archaeologists with the Kentucky Heritage Council and Daniel Boone National Forest in 1985 discovered a thin layer of primarily wood ash containing ancient Indigenous artifacts. The archaeologists also documented​ several earth ovens, basin-shaped pits, and postholes within the midden.  Over the course of the site's 800-year-long history (mainly during the Early Woodland period [1000-200 BC]), Native peoples returned again and again to live briefly within this rockshelter.​

A bone awl, a sharp piercing tool.

Findings

​Small groups of ancient Indigenous people likely used Conley-Greene as a home base. Perhaps an extended family stopped by the shelter to camp for a week or two. Someone knapped new stone tools or sharpened old ones, and left the byproducts behind. It is clear from these objects that the knappers used locally available raw materials. While living there, the people also hunted wild animals and collected edible plants.

Among the artifacts investigators recovered were Adena Stemmed spearpoints and Adena Plain ceramics.  Other kinds of artifacts of found at the site, included pitted stones, grooved abraders, and celts. Items made from bone (awls and pins), worked antler, and turtle carapace (upper shell) shaped into bowls also were recovered.

Among the animals they hunted and consumed were deer, bear, elk, and wild turkey. They also trapped and ate smaller animals, such as chipmunks and squirrels. Charred wild plant remains recoverd from the site show that although site residents prefered hickory nuts, they also ate smaller amounts of black walnut, acorn, hazelnut, and butternut. The wild fruits they collected and ate included sumac, blackberries, and grapes. 

Adena Stemmed spear point.

What's Cool?

​A Miniatu​​re Celt

One of the most impressive objects archaeologists recovered from Conley-Greene was a finely polished celt (the head of an axe that lacks a groove​). It was made from an extremely dense grade of hematite, an iron oxide mineral. Oblique striations are visible along its working edge. ​If site residents actually used this celt, as the edge-wear suggests, it is unclear for what purpose.​

A miniature hematite celt.

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