This story is kinda long and there is a lot of pictures. The first pic is of me and my nephew Jay climbing into the cave. You will have to excuse me Mike, although technically it is really a rock shelter, I am going to call it a cave from here on out. Next time I will not forget the resperators!!!







The next picture is of a close up shot of the smoke from a fire on the ceiling.



Found a spot to dig and found flint with the first bucket.










Looking out from the back of the cave.







My niece Diana who didn't want to take part in any digging.



Now although we didn't find anything wonderful, you have to remember that this was our first time to dig in the cave. There is still 95% of the cave left to dig and we are hoping to find a cache or two in there. As soon as we finish this cave we will move onto the cave to the right. As I said in the last post we can see black smoke in that one too. Here are the finds.

The first pic a Bonham?



That one looks better than it really is. Look at the broken tip in the next picture.

Forgot to mention that we found a bunch of scrapers and only one point

Yeah, I know I forgot them and we used a shirt tied around our mouths.

that's awesome man. lucky!

Well,well, congratulations DJ, you have proven that these caves have occupation, just as I suspected. Yes, you have a Bonham birdie, and I'll bet that there will be many more. Sorry I didn't mention breathing protection while you are digging/ sifting. I use the fiber paper type, as they more comfortable to wear and cheap. It looks like it would be great if you could get hold of a 12 foot section of aluminum ladder and anchor it in place to get into the caves easier. When I first saw the photos of these caves, I thought to myself, back when the indians were there, there were probably scree slopes of loose rocks and rubble sloping up to the entrances, and I still think that there was, only past flood events along the creek have washed them away. I'm sure it will happen again with how ever much tailings come out of the caves from digging. I hope that you have at least a foot or 2 of strata to dig (the more the better). I'm real glad for you that things are looking better at your site.

They would only use those places in inclement weather.It's been my experience whenever there's a shelter,there's also more in close proximity.If there's not a river bottom below,then check above near cliff's and higher ground.Most shelters like that only have a few inches of diggable dirt.Good luck!

There is a river directly below and there looks to be about a foot of dirt to dig.

Hi DJ, I'm just a plain soil processor not a caver but looking at your excellent picture report and the way your presently working and how much more you may have to go [ next cave ].......I know exactly what I would do [ or at least try ]

Make that steep slope your dealing with payoff big. buy a roll of 1/4 mesh screen in 4 or 6 foot width thats probably 25 feet long. With big head roofing nails attach to two planks the longer the better 14+ ft. 2X4's will sag immediatly. IF it was me....I would go first class with treated wood 2X6 then 2X4 screwed upright to make a "T" [ T head goes DOWN].

Now you have a gold sluice type machine that will get the throw well away from the entrance..

Next, do yourself a favor working in that low roof, GET RID OF THAT BUCKET. Get the smallest TARP Home Depot sells [ I think it's abot 6X8 ft ] tie ropes on the corners. Dont OVERLOAD, just 2 to 3 full buckets in volume is plenty. Drag to top of screen and pickup the artifacts...

4 Mike... More REAL cave stories...Just as I was typing the above long disertation the local TV news chanel reported 3 more people thought "lost" in Airmans cave at S>lamar & Ben White, Austin. Second time in 5 months. They were OK but with that kind of publicity how long can it be before there is a public outcry to fill it in with concrete???

SH, I was on the 2nd trip into airmans cave after it's discovery in 1970. There have been many rescues since then (was on 1 of them). City of Austin says they want to gate it, but local cavers threaten to tear gate off if they try, and want it open to them because it does not contain any endangered species. As the City owns it, they last said they will try charging victums for rescues. Most rescues have been bogas errors with no one being injured. Cave is 11,ooo feet long, mostly crawling to hands & knees size. Rescue calls have become sarcastically humorous, as cavers won't volunteer anymore. So it all remains up to the City. It seems to be a cry wolf with no end in sight.

I found a lot of droppings in the cave that look like rabbit. I didn't think there was any way a rabbit could get in there. Could it be from a different animal?

Yeah, I knew rabbit poop looked like deer, but I really didn't consider deer because that really seemed impossible to me. I guess I could be wrong.

DJ, odds are greater than not that it would be from goats put on the property in the past to satisfy an agricultural exemption (keeping the land taxes reduced). We had alot of it in our cave before the digging began.

We do see about a million goats driving to and from Sanderson, you're probably right.

Hi DJ, Enough time has passed that you have been down to your friendly home town, Home Depot to buy a tarp. An while there noticed 2 X 6's weigh about 60 lbs each and in todays "economy" probably cost $200.--each!.
So here's my plan #76...build a bigger screen shaker, out of 2 X 4's...say 4 X 6 feet. Buy the 100 foot "poly" 1/4 rope for $3.00

Rig the screen to hang over the cliff [ tied to a tough scrub, NOT a rock ]. TWO lines from corners.

I suspect that one of the basic laws of "normal" diggers will apply to cavers also....

THE MORE DIRT YOU MOVE, THE MORE YOU WILL FIND.

Hal, I am going to start doing what you said with the tarp because it does look a whole lot easier. You and my dad are trying to figure out how to dig that rock shelter in a hurry. I'm trying to figure out a way to make it last a little while. I am a bit anxious to see what else there is to discover though. I now know that I tossed out a Grinder not realizing what it was at the time. Well anyway thanks for the input.

Actually, it was a grinding bowl that I tossed out.

DJ, a METATTE [ grinding stone ] is a very good news indicator. There are camps where the boys stopped to rest, resharpen a few points, have a couple of jars and a few laughs...And thats what you find, millions of flakes and some laughs...

A food processor shows the family were at that site also, thus the time there would be extended and a better probability of something nice falling out of pockets.

Sorry I dont have any suggestions for making the discoveries last longer but I suspect when it hits 130* in the shade that will take care of itself!!