TheLaGrange Rock Shelter is an archaeological site located on private property betweenLeighton andMuscle Shoals inColbert County, Alabama, United States, near the original campus of LaGrange College. The shelter measures 70 feet long by 15 feet deep (21m by 4.5m) and is located beneath asandstoneoutcrop overlooking a dense series ofPaleoindian sites in the valley below, which may have led to it being chosen for excavation.[2]
Excavations of the site occurred over two seasons, beginning in 1972 with Charles Hubbert as principal investigator and ending in 1975 with Vernon J. Knight Jr as principal investigator, with both seasons under the direction ofDavid L. DeJarnette of theUniversity of Alabama. Lower levels of the shelter producedcharcoal samples that wereradiocarbon dated to approximately 11,280 BC, placing estimates of the site's habitation within what is believed to be thePaleoindian Period. At the time of the discovery, only one other site east of theMississippi River had been dated to that age.[3]
The charcoal consisted of small flecks associated with light debitage below a definitive Early Archaic to Late Paleoindian (Dalton culture) zone.[4] After careful consideration, DeJarnette and Knight suggested that the charcoal originated from an upper level and migrated to the lower level due to breakdown of the original shelter floor.[4] Although thePaleoindian date may be questioned, the site also contained a remarkable Early Archaic burial, one of the oldest burials uncovered in the State of Alabama.[5]
^abNational Register of Historic Places, Alabama, Colbert County."LaGrange Rock Shelter".National Register of Historic Places. Archived fromthe original on June 30, 2016. RetrievedFebruary 16, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
