Prehistoric Mortuary Caves of the Central Sierra
 Mike Moratto, Ph.D. - Applied Earthworks 

The American West has been the home of native peoples for at least 130 centuries. During that great span of time, exogene and endogene caves were used variously as shelters, storage places, stone quarries, rock art grottos, ceremonial sites, and burial chambers. Of special interest is "Cave Country," the limestone belt of the central Sierra Nevada, where hundreds of vertical solution cavities were used in prehistory for disposal of the dead. Typically, these cavities or fissures are a few tens of feet to several hundred feet deep, have very small, obscure openings at the surface, and are notoriously difficult to find in the karst terrain. Unlike true burial caves, wherein the dead were interred, the Sierran mortuary caves functioned as ossuaries. Human remains--bodies, disarticulated bones, and even cremated bone fragments--and artifacts were dropped from above into the dark chambers. Archaeological research during the past six decades has yielded valuable information about the age and nature of the mortuary practices evinced in these caves, though much remains to be learned about the people whose mortal traces repose there. Dr. Moratto will discuss the range of mortuary cave types, the kinds of archaeological materials they contain, evidence for the age and cultural context of the funerary activities, popular myths about the caves, and beliefs and concerns of local Native Americans regarding proper treatment of the caves and human remains.

Michael J. Moratto, Ph.D., RPA, has directed archaeological research in the Sierra Navada for nearly 40 years. He retired in 2005 from a long career with the California State University system, and is now a Senior Archaeologist/Environmental Scientist with Applied EarthWorks, Inc., an environmental consulting firm with several offices in California. Dr. Moratto is a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, and has been the president of local, statewide, and national archaeolgical organizations. He is perhaps best known for his book, California Archaeology, first published in 1984 and reprinted in 2004.

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