The Mahaffy Cache- A Prehistoric Discovery!

A few years ago I blogged about an interesting event my husband and I attended called the International Archaeology Day that was held in Roxborough, Colorado--click here--to read that post. We have always been fascinated by the past, and the people and civilizations that came before modern times and the remnants of their lives left behind. We found the lectures, exhibits, and demonstrations on this special day very enriching. The last lecture of the day was presented by the University of Colorado Boulder Professor Douglas Bamforth about the "Mahaffy Clovis Cache." When landscapers uncovered a collection of 83 stone tools in the front yard of Patrick Mahaffy's home in Boulder, Colorado, the homeowner called the University of Colorado at Boulder's anthropology department and the next day archaeologist Douglas Bamforth came out to investigate. What they discovered is called the Mahaffy Clovis Cache. It contains elaborate stone knives and blades used to butcher ice-age mammals 13,000 years ago!

Discovered by a landscaping crew digging a fishpond in the yard of a Boulder home in 2008, the 83-piece tool cache was packed in a space about the size of a shoebox under two feet of soil, apparently untouched for millennia. The tools were discovered in the yard of Boulder homeowner Patrick Mahaffy, who is loaning them to the University of Colorado Boulder Museum of Natural History as the centerpiece of the exhibit, “Unearthed: Ancient Life in the Boulder Valley.” 

My husband and I, and members of the Ken Caryl Ranch Historical Society that we are part of, took an excursion last year to visit the exhibit as we were all interested to see these ancient artifacts that are estimated to be 13,000 years old!

To be able to examine the tools up close and see their workmanship, and their almost pristine condition was very exciting. They are made of quartzite and chert materials, some of which are not found in Colorado. Professor Bramsforth feels the stones used may have originated in the Uinta Mountains in northeast Utah, the Green River Basin in northwest Colorado and southwest Wyoming, and Middle Park near Kremmling, Colorado. He concluded the Mahaffy Cache likely originated in the Uintas, was carried up the Yampa River Valley in Colorado, then through the Gore Range and into Middle Park. From there they were probably toted to the Colorado River headwaters and over a pass in or near present-day Rocky Mountain National Park, and up and over to the Front Range.

Because our group had pre-arranged our visit, we were fortunate to have James Hakala, a Senior Educator at the museum, give us a presentation about the exhibit. He explained that the landscape in Colorado 13,000 years ago was home to camels, horses, and now-extinct saber-toothed cats, wooly mammoths, dire wolves, short-faced bears, wooly rhinos, and giant ground sloths. While scientists have speculated these and other ice-age mammals may have disappeared as a result of overhunting or climate change, the reasons remain unresolved.  Prehistoric hunters obviously traveled to the Colorado Front Range to hunt the abundant wild game. They would then use these precision stone tools to skin the animals and remove their meat.  Remnants of camel and horse proteins were actually isolated for the tools in studies made.

The Mahaffy Cache Exhibit had many placards--click on the photo collage to enlarge.

Please click on photo collage to enlarge

The Mahaffy Cache includes elegantly crafted, salad plate-sized bifacial knives, a tool resembling a double-bitted ax and a number of smaller blades. It is one of a handful of artifact collections known as Clovis caches, named after a particular tool style used by one of the oldest known groups of New World Paleo-Indians.

We wondered who buried these prize tools with the intention of returning to retrieve them and what was the reason that they never came back? We will never know the answer but we can appreciate that they unintentionally left a marvelous array of artifacts for us to learn about their way of life. For that reason, it is said that Mr. Mahaffy actually re-buried a few smaller pieces of the cache and also a modern knife and fork in the same place they were found, in order that someone 13,000 years from now might make another discovery!

If you'd like to view a short YouTube video about the Mahaffy Cache click here.

You can also find me on

Instagram Twitter Facebook 

Pinterest

 I'm linking this post to the following blog events:

 Mosaic Monday, All Seasons, Blue Monday, Through My Lens Monday, Little Cottage Link Party, Hearth, and Soul Link Party, You Are the Star Blog Hop, Inspire Me Monday,  Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Travel Photos, Photo Tunes, Happiness Is Homemade, Over the Moon, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, Tuesday Turn About. Tuesdays With A Twist, Let's Keep In Touch, Wordless Wednesday on a Tuesday,  Party in Your PJ's, Wordless Wednesday, Nanahood WW, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Worldless  Wednesday My Corner of the World, Wonderful Wednesday,  Little Things Thursday, Thankful Thursday, Thursday Encouraging Hearts and Home, Full Plate Thursday, Thursday Thinking Out Loud, Friendship Fridays, Friday Features Linky Party, Skywatch Friday, Pink Saturday, Saturday Critters