[Si]
A rock-shelter near the town of Avella in southwestern Pennsylvania investigated by James Adovasio between 1973 and 1977. The very extensive sequence of deposits in the shelter divides into eleven main strata. Dated by over 70 radiocarbon determinations, these strata span the period from the late glacial (before 30 000 bc) down to historic times. The earliest artefacts come from Stratum IIa and belong to what is believed to be a pre-Clovis Palaeo-Indian tradition with small blades, a bifacially worked flake knife which the excavator called ‘Mungai’ and a lancolate projectile point. This material is not typical of eastern Palaeo-Indian assemblages and eight radiocarbon determinations date it to the period between 17 000 and 11 000 years ago. These dates have been disputed by the geologist C. Vance Haynes on the basis of possible contamination, while others have questioned such an early dating because the environmental evidence for the same strata does not match with the kind of tundra conditions which would be expected at this time. At present, however, the Meadowcroft is the best candidate for early occupation of North America.
Later deposits include Archaic and Woodland Stage occupation, all with acceptable radiocarbon dates and associated cultural material.
[Sum.: J. M. Adovasio, 1978, Meadowcroft Rockshelter, 1977: An overview. American Antiquity, 43(4), 632–51; R. C. Carlisle and J. M. Adovasio (eds.), 1982, Meadowcroft: Collected papers on the archaeology of Meadowcroft Rockshelter and the Cross Creek Drainage. Minneapolis: Society of American Archaeologists]
