Graham Cave - Montgomery County, MO - New World Ancient Evidence on Waymarking.com

Nestled in the hills above the Loutre River in Montgomery County, Graham Cave State Park provides opportunities for both recreation and education.
The main feature of the park, Graham Cave, was formed at the point of contact between Jefferson City dolomite and St. Peter sandstone. Gradual water flowing through the sandstone, along with a combined action of wind and freezing, worked to make a relatively large cave. The cave originally extended about 100 feet into the hill, but an accumulation of debris over the years filled the lower part of the cave with about seven feet of deposits. An archlike entrance, 120 feet wide and 16 feet high, provided human and animals with easy access to shelter.

Graham Cave is named after the first settler who owned the cave property. In 1816, Robert Graham bought some bottomland along the Loutre River from Daniel Boone's son, Daniel Morgan Boone, and in 1847, purchased the property that housed the cave. It remained in the Graham family until its transfer to the state in 1964.

Graham's son, D.F. Graham, used the cave to shelter his hogs, but also became interested in archaeology and artifacts that he found in the cave. After his death, his son Benjamin offered his father's collection of artifacts to the University of Missouri, which spawned archaeological interest in professors Jesse Wrench and J. Brewton Berry. Wrench and Berry visited the cave to assess its archaeological potential in 1930.

Benjamin's daughter, Frances, married Ward Darnell, who, in 1948, began to enlarge the shelter for his livestock. Archaeologists heard of Darnell's activity and persuaded him to stop until they could conduct salvage excavations.

Between 1949 and 1955, the University of Missouri and the Missouri Archaeological Society conducted extensive excavations in the cave with astonishing results. Artifacts found in Graham Cave, associated with charcoal dated by the radiocarbon method, provided important evidence about man's adaptation to the environment at the end of the ice age. Archaeological findings revealed different periods in man's use of the cave, dating back to as early as 10,000 years ago.

Archaeologists uncovered artifacts that provided clues to the lifestyle of the ancient Dalton and Archaic period Native Americans who first inhabited the cave. Artifacts revealed that these early Native Americans depended mainly on hunting and fishing for food using spears as weapons. They occupied the cave seasonally and apparently believed in the supernatural. A ring of rocks that encircle a large stone, believed to be a council ring, was found in the cave and suggests that they held ceremonies. Pieces of pottery found in the cave indicate that it was also occupied by a more recent culture of Native Americans.

As a result of these important archaeological findings, Graham Cave was the first archaeological site in the United States to be designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. Frances Graham Darnell donated the cave and land to the state in 1964 to create a state park. After acquisition of the cave by the state park system, excavations were done in 1966 to clean up the area and provide additional research. Since then, excavations have not been conducted in order to preserve the remaining deposits. Today, an accessible trail leads to the entrance of the cave, where interpretive signs point out some of these interesting discoveries.
~ from MO DNR website

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