A Reevaluation of the Marmes Rockshelter Radiocarbon Chronology

Twenty years ago excavation began on Marmes Rockshelter at the mouth of the Palouse River in southeastern Washington. Radiocarbon determinations from cave and adjacent floodplain sediments indicated an established pattern of human use by 10,800 B.P. However, a scarcity of dates between 6000 and 1300 B.P. suggested that either these strata were undated or the cave was unused. Examination of all Marmes radiocarbon ages showed agreement between shell and charcoal dates, but also some sediment mixing. Recent radiocarbon dating of charcoal, shell, and bone verifies previous determinations and supplies data between 6000 and 1300 B.P.