The Cave - Owaynessa

Owaynessa (Iroquoian for home) is an Indigenous archaeological site centered on a two-tiered cave system. Four visits in 2025 have concentrated on the midden outside the cave, yielding a substantial collection of artifacts. Excavations to a depth of 15 inches have uncovered items like a tomahawk head, a necklace pendant, a variety of arrowheads representing different time periods (including one partial spear point with an older, almost full-flute design, potentially a “Cumberland”), bone crusher stones, and several types of adzes and knife scrapers (thumb and full). Significant finds also include concentrated piles of flakes from Conococheague chert, charcoal remnants indicative of past fires, and a distinct fire pit situated at 13 inches below the surface.

Inside the cave, notable discoveries include a full-body fox petroglyph and a six-inch sturgeon petroglyph. The artifacts recovered from the 4″, 8″, and 13″ levels demonstrate a layered occupational history at the site. A quarter-mile away, the Stubblefield burial site, characterized by seven deeply encased stone burial mounds suggesting ancient origins, is believed to be connected to the Owaynessa cave dwellers, potentially from the Late Woodland or early Archaic periods.