|
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR
LARGE IMAGE OF COMPLETE SKULL
TEETH AND TUSK OF FLAT-HEADED PECCARY
HENDRICKS COLLECTION
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
FLAT-HEADED PECCARY BONES
IN THE WALL OF THE
EXCAVATION
PICTURE CREDIT--KEITH
HENDRICKS
Several
different Late Pleistocene animals were found in the artifact bearing
layers. The most common was the flat-headed peccary. This now extinct
pig-like animal had large tusks and was the size of a wild boar.
Approximately 40 peccaries were recovered from this excavation. Bones of a giant
beaver were also found. These beavers had huge front teeth and unlike
beavers of today their tails were narrow like a muskrat and these animals were as large
as a black bear. Other animals found in the artifact bearing layer were caribou,
porcupine, yellow-cheeked vole and heather vole,
The rarest
animal found below the artifact bearing layer was the partial remains of a short-faced bear. This animal
was a foot taller and weighed twice as much as a modern grizzly bear!
Bones from another species of peccary, the long-nosed variety (Mylohylus
nausutus) were represented by a single animal. These long-nosed peccaries were about
the size of white tailed deer! The remains of an extinct stag-moose and a giant deer were also found.
Other animals found were, pygmy shrew, northern bog
lemming, ermine and pine martin.
The bottom of the sink hole held enough
water at one time to also allow fish, frogs, water snakes and aquatic
turtles to live there.
FLAT-HEADED PECCARY JAW PARTIALLY EXCAVATED
PICTURE CREDIT--KEITH
HENDRICKS
This picture shows the jaw and teeth of a partially excavated mandible of
an extinct peccary located within the artifact bearing layer in Sheriden Cave.
STATE HISTORICAL MARKER FOR SHERIDAN
CAVE
COVERED BEFORE THE DEDICATION CEREMONY
PICTURE CREDIT--KEITH
HENDRICKS
This state historical marker is located near the entrance to Indian Trail Caverns.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE
READABLE IMAGE
STATE
HISTORICAL MARKER FOR SHERIDEN CAVE
After
several years of excavation and research this state historical marker was
awarded in a dedication ceremony in the summer of 2001 to honor the Sheriden Cave site.
|
