Kenton Caves, an Odyssey

Kenton Caves, an Odyssey

       The odyssey of the Kenton Caves, for me, began as a graduate student at the University of Oklahoma, in the 1980's. While taking an archeology class under Dr. Robert Bell, he encouraged me to look into the subject of the Kenton Caves. I was interested and began my search for the Kenton Cave artifacts. What I found was a large number of artifacts from the “Kenton Caves” scattered around the state. They were for the most part unknown and not described in any publication.
       After traveling around the state looking for the Kenton Cave materials what I found was a jumble of artifacts in an amazing state of preservation at various museums. What I also found was a lack of documentation and little in the way of excavation records. In spite of this, from what I'd seen, a description of the artifacts seemed worthwhile. It was with this in mind that I approached my thesis advisor about the Kenton Cave materials being a possible topic for a master thesis. I was told that the topic was not problem oriented and thus not suitable as a master thesis topic. Perhaps that was right but I felt that the materials were worthy of my time. I thus continued working on the Kenton materials, photographing, measuring, and drawing the artifacts, which included mostly woven materials, basketry, and sandals. Nothing, was ever published except for the general accounts in the Lintz/Zabawa article in Oklahoma Prehistory edited by Robert Bell and the Zabawa article “Kenton Caves Re-examined “ in Man and the Oklahoma Panhandle (1981).
       Many of the other perishable materials from the Kenton Caves are not described in this blog or in the archaeological literature elsewhere. These artifacts and botanical remains include perishable food items such as corn, gourd or squash and various hunting implements, some of wood , and many other items. Photos of other artifacts will be included, as I locate them, at the end of this blog. The article “Kenton Caves Revisited” will also be included at the end of the blog which contains some general descriptions and photos of other non-woven artifacts and a short historical account of the site.
       The Kenton Caves odyssey began over twenty years ago and since then I have discovered self publishing on the internet, via a blog. In 2007, I started the Kenton Cave blog but due to health issues, which continues and other distractions in my life, it has remained unfinished. Thanks to Carol Hughey, a friend, who mentioned some southwestern sites in an E-mail, I decided it was time to finish the blog, or at least try.
       The text is much the same as when it was written twenty years ago and the illustrations and photos have become digitized. The archeology of the southwest United States region, Oklahoma, and others areas have progressed and changed in the twenty years since this was written so all but the descriptions are out of date, including the bibliography. Please keep this in mind when reading these sections . Because of these reasons I am hesitantly adding the summary and conclusions.
       I hope whoever reads this will find it useful or at least interesting. I am posting a copyright notice for my text, illustrations and photos. Please contact me, George Zabawa at lgzab@sbcglobal.net if interested in using any of the materials or for any other reason.