Do you know the history of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter?
Back in 1955, a Washington County farmer stumbled over a groundhog hole and discovered what appeared to be prehistoric tools. The farmer, Albert Miller, eventually convinced an archeologist to thoroughly research the land – and good thing he did! The site is now considered the oldest site of human habitation in North America.
James Adovasio and his team of Pitt students began their digs in 1973. He later told me they didn’t realize how old and how deep the deposits were until the following year, when radiocarbon testing determined the artifacts to be up to 19,000 years old. That’s several thousand years before scientists previously believed humans first inhabited North America.
What is now known as the Meadowcroft Rockshelter was not a permanent residence but more of a camping site that the nomadic hunter-gatherers used as they moved back and forth along the Ohio River to replenish their supplies. So, who were these earliest inhabitants of our region? Adovasio told me there are scant few human remains at the site, however, the artifacts show they were Paleo-Indians who kept coming back for thousands of years. “These are anatomically modern humans,” he said. “We're dealing with early versions of ourselves.”
Last summer, on the 50th anniversary of his first dig, Adovasio told me he still has many questions, including why people apparently stopped coming to the site between 300 and 600 A.D when the rockshelter was still viable. With more excavations planned, he said, “it becomes a learning experience each and every day.”
Want to visit this National Historic Landmark? Meadowcroft Rockshelter is located in Avella and open seasonally from May through October. You can take a daily tour or help preserve the site at a weekly weeding party.
