Dust Cave in northern Alabama preserves a long record of repeated seasonal occupation from the late Pleistocene into the early Holocene, making it a key Paleoindian and Archaic site in the Tennessee River Valley. The cave became habitable around 10,600 B.P. after earlier river sediment was flushed out, and its deposits document about 7,000 years of use through five cultural components. Excavations beginning in 1989 uncovered unusually deep, clear stratigraphy, Paleoindian stone tools, and 20 human and dog burials from a Middle Archaic phase. Together with other major regional sites, Dust Cave helps track changing settlement, technology, and mortuary practices over thousands of years.

Florence, Alabama · USA