Wagon Jack Shelter
Churchill County, Churchill County, Nevada
Marker Inscription
Wagon Jack Shelter. The base of this cliff is the site of Wagon Jack Shelter, excavated in 1958 by Robert F. Heizer and Martin A. Baumhoff through the University of California, Berkeley. The archaeologists named the shelter in honor of Wagon Jack, a Western Shoshone Indian who may have camped here while working at the Eastgate Ranch around 1900. Wagon Jack was purportedly a rabbit boss, leader of communal jackrabbit drives, in neighboring Smith Creek Valley.A curved wall formerly extended from the cliff face and probably represented the perimeter of a prehistoric brush-covered shelter. A variety of chipped stone projectile point styles were recovered from this site reflecting a succession of prehistoric cultures. Eastgate Series arrow points were first described from these Eastgate archaeological sites. Bones of bighorn sheep dominated the animal remains accompanied by a few deer and pronghorn bones. Four stone tools or fragments of tools were associated with grinding seeds, pinenuts, and other dried foods. A radiocarbon date from the bottom of this site indicates occupation beginning around 3,150 years ago.
Erected by Austin Chamber Of Commerce
The Story
At the base of this cliff, archaeologists from the University of California, Berkeley excavated a rock shelter in 1958, naming it for Wagon Jack, a Western Shoshone man said to have camped nearby around 1900 and to have led communal jackrabbit drives in a neighboring valley. The dig revealed a succession of prehistoric cultures through their distinctive stone projectile points, including the Eastgate arrow points first described here. Bones of bighorn sheep, deer, and pronghorn and stone tools for grinding seeds and pinenuts rounded out the picture, and a radiocarbon date places the earliest occupation roughly 3,150 years ago.
Why it matters
Wagon Jack Shelter is a keystone of Great Basin archaeology, a site whose layered deposits helped define the region's prehistoric chronology and document thousands of years of Indigenous life in the desert.
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Related people
- · Robert F. Heizer
- · Martin A. Baumhoff
Themes & tags
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