Bighorn Cave: Test Excavations of a Stratified Dry Shelter, Mohave County, Arizona

Bighorn Cave, located in the Black Mountains of west-central Arizona, is a large shelter with dry stratified deposits dating from the present back to at least the late Archaic. This report presents the findings of an test excavation of the site done to determine the archaeological significance of the cave, to understand the extent and nature of intact cultural deposits, and to determine their ages. The excavation of roughly 15 cu m of undisturbed deposits revealed more than 1 m of complexly stratified deposits and superimposed features from roughly 3000 years of site occupancy.