Mummy Cave

Mummy Cave
The cave from a distance
Mummy Cave is located in Wyoming
Mummy Cave
Mummy Cave is located in the United States
Mummy Cave
LocationAlong the North Fork of the Shoshone River, east of Yellowstone National Park[1][2]: xii  Park County, Wyoming, United States
Nearest cityCody, Wyoming
Coordinates44°27′38.448″N 109°44′9.6″W / 44.46068000°N 109.736000°W / 44.46068000; -109.736000
NRHP reference No.81000611
Added to NRHPFebruary 18, 1981[3]

Mummy Cave is a rock shelter and archeological site in Park County, Wyoming, United States, near the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The site is adjacent to the concurrent U.S. Routes 14/16/20,[1] on the left bank of the North Fork of the Shoshone River[2]: xii  at an altitude of 6,310 feet (1,920 m) in Shoshone National Forest.[4]

At its mouth, the cave is approximately 150 feet (46 m) wide, and it extends approximately 40 feet (12 m) into a volcanic cliff above the North Fork.[2]: 7, 12  It lies along the left bank of the river,[1] next to the mouth of a small stream and opposite from the mouth of Blackwater Creek.[2]: xii  The largest known cave along the North Fork, it is believed to have been carved by the river's flow; the reason for its diversion away from the alcove is unknown.[2]: 8, 10 

Mummy Cave was occupied between 7280 BC and AD 1580.[1] Discovered by Cody resident Gene Smith in 1957,[5] it was first studied in 1962 and excavated by the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The site includes unusual amounts of perishable materials such as hide, feathers and wood, as well as the buried and mummified remains of an inhabitant, named by researchers "Mummy Joe," and dated to about AD 800.[1] The cave is notable for the depth of its cultural deposits, extending over 28 feet (8.5 m) in depth, and in particular for the continuity of those deposits. The deposits have been classified into 38 occupation levels that represent at least seasonal use of the site on an annual basis, extending from the Paleoindian period to the late Prehistoric period.[6]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Mummy Cave". Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved July 29, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e Husted, Wilfred M., and Robert Edgar. The Archeology of Mummy Cave, Wyoming: An Introduction to Shoshonean Prehistory. Midwest Archeological Center and Southeast Archeological Center via the National Park Service, 2002. Accessed 2009-07-29.
  3. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference science was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Sniffin, Bill. "Mummies in Wyoming?". Weston County Gazette, 2015-06-18, 12.
  6. ^ "2007 – Mummy Cave, Wyoming". Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved July 30, 2009.