Conkling Cavern
Encyclopedia
Conkling Cavern is a paleontological and archaeological site located in Doña Ana County, New Mexico
. It was excavated in the late 1920s under the direction of Chester Stock. Unfortunately, Stock never published the fossil
fauna from the excavations. Instead, R. P. Conkling, who had drawn scientific attention to the site, published very preliminary lists of mammals identified by Stock and birds identified by Howard. Several authors have done research on portions of the recovered fossil fauna
. Excavated before modern dating techniques were developed, little is known about the chronology except some apparently is Holocene
and much is Pleistocene
in age.
The site is located on the east side of Bishop's Cap, an outlier of the Organ Mountains
. The entrance to the cavern is essentially vertical. The cave was described by Conkling as having been filled originally to 8 feet below the entrance. A vertical section of the cave is pictured in the Conkling paper from a photograph of an exhibit that had been displayed at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
.
The Conkling Cavern material was deposited at that museum. Some additional material has since been recovered from spoil from the original excavations and is housed in the Paleobiology Collection, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum
, University of Texas at El Paso
. The faunal list includes identifications from all known collections.
Fragments of two humans were recovered, including parts of two skulls. One of these was at a depth of about 12 feet and the other at about 26 feet, about 26 inches beneath a layer of consolidated sandstone
. The upper skull part was close to the ungual
phalanges
of a sloth
. Gnawed human bones were found deeper in what was thought to be a Dire Wolf
den
.
Names have been changed to the current nomenclature
. Keep in mind that identifications are tentative and some may be Holocene rather than Pleistocene.
Aves
Mammalia
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. It was excavated in the late 1920s under the direction of Chester Stock. Unfortunately, Stock never published the fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
fauna from the excavations. Instead, R. P. Conkling, who had drawn scientific attention to the site, published very preliminary lists of mammals identified by Stock and birds identified by Howard. Several authors have done research on portions of the recovered fossil fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
. Excavated before modern dating techniques were developed, little is known about the chronology except some apparently is Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
and much is Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
in age.
The site is located on the east side of Bishop's Cap, an outlier of the Organ Mountains
Organ Mountains
The Organ Mountains are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. They lie east of the city of Las Cruces, in Doña Ana County.-Geography:...
. The entrance to the cavern is essentially vertical. The cave was described by Conkling as having been filled originally to 8 feet below the entrance. A vertical section of the cave is pictured in the Conkling paper from a photograph of an exhibit that had been displayed at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County opened in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA in 1913 as the Museum of History, Science, and Art. The moving force behind it was a museum association founded in 1910. Its distinctive main building, with fitted marble walls and domed and...
.
The Conkling Cavern material was deposited at that museum. Some additional material has since been recovered from spoil from the original excavations and is housed in the Paleobiology Collection, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum
Centennial Museum
The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens is a cultural history and natural history museum in El Paso, Texas, United States.The Centennial Museum is located on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso. Its cultural focus is on the indigenous, colonial, pre-urban, and folk cultures...
, University of Texas at El Paso
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is a four-year state university, and is a component institution of the University of Texas System. Its campus is located on the bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. The school was founded in 1914 as The Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy,...
. The faunal list includes identifications from all known collections.
Fragments of two humans were recovered, including parts of two skulls. One of these was at a depth of about 12 feet and the other at about 26 feet, about 26 inches beneath a layer of consolidated sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. The upper skull part was close to the ungual
Ungual
An ungual is a highly modified distal toe bone which ends in a hoof, claw, or nail. Elephants and other ungulates have ungual phalanges, as did the sauropods and horned dinosaurs. A claw is a highly modified ungual phalange.As an adjective, ungual means related to nail, as in periungual .-External...
phalanges
Phalanx bones
In anatomy, phalanx bones are those that form the fingers and toes. In primates such as humans and monkeys, the thumb and big toe have two phalanges, while the other fingers and toes consist of three. Phalanges are classified as long bones.The phalanges do not have individual names...
of a sloth
Sloth
Sloths are the six species of medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae , part of the order Pilosa and therefore related to armadillos and anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialized claws.They are arboreal residents of the jungles of Central and South...
. Gnawed human bones were found deeper in what was thought to be a Dire Wolf
Dire Wolf
The Dire Wolf, Canis dirus, is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the genus Canis, and was most common in North America and South America from the Irvingtonian stage to the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene epoch living 1.80 Ma – 10,000 years ago, existing for approximately .- Relationships...
den
Lair
Lair may refer to:*An animal's lair or home; see :Category:Shelters built or used by animals*Lair , a 2007 video game*In Scots language, lair refers to a burial-plot in a graveyard...
.
Names have been changed to the current nomenclature
Nomenclature
Nomenclature is a term that applies to either a list of names or terms, or to the system of principles, procedures and terms related to naming - which is the assigning of a word or phrase to a particular object or property...
. Keep in mind that identifications are tentative and some may be Holocene rather than Pleistocene.
Fauna
Reptilia- TortoiseTortoiseTortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
- SnakeSnakeSnakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
Aves
- Branta canadensis
- Cathartes aura
- †Coragyps occidentalis
- Gymnogyps californianus
- Buteo jamaicensis
- Buteo swainsoni
- Haliaeetus leucocephalus
- Aquila chrysaetos
- Caracara prelutosaCaracaraCaracaras are birds of prey in the family Falconidae. They are traditionally placed in the subfamily Polyborinae, but are sometimes considered part of their own subfamily, Caracarinae, or members of the true falcon subfamily, Falconinae...
- Falco sparverius
- Centrocercus urophasianus
- Callipepla ? gambeli
- Meleagris gallopavo
- †Geococcyx californianus conklingiGeococcyxThe roadrunners are two species of bird in the genus Geococcyx of the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, native to North and Central America...
- Tyto alba
- Speotyto cunicularia
- Asio otus
- Colaptes auratus
- Eremophila alpestris
- Corvus corax
- Gymnorhynus cyanocephalusPinyon JayThe Pinyon Jay is a jay between the North American Blue Jay and the Eurasian Jay in size. It is the only member of the genus Gymnorhinus, . Its overall proportions are very Nutcracker-like and indeed this can be seen as convergent evolution as both birds fill similar ecological niches...
- Turdus migratorius
- Sialia sp.
- Agelaius ? phoeniceus
- Carpodacus mexicanus
- Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Mammalia
- Homo sapiens
- ? †MylodonMylodonMylodon is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived in the Patagonia area of South America until roughly 10,000 years ago.Mylodon weighed about and stood up to tall when raised up on its hind legs. Preserved dung has shown it was a herbivore. It had very thick hide and had osteoderms...
sp. - ? †MegalonyxMegalonyxMegalonyx is an extinct genus of giant ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America from the Hemphillian of the Late Miocene through to the Rancholabrean of the Pleistocene, living from ~10.3 Mya—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately .-Taxonomy:The generic name...
sp. - †NothrotheriopsGround slothGround sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths, in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. Their most recent survivors lived in the Antilles, where it has been proposed they may have survived until 1550 CE; however, the youngest AMS radiocarbon date reported is 4190 BP, calibrated to c. 4700 BP...
sp. - LepusLepusLepus is the genus of hares.Lepus may also be:* Lepus , a group of stars* Arieşeni, a commune in Romania* Lepus-the story of a hare, a book by D.Brian Plummer...
sp. - Sylvilagus cf. audubonii
- Sylvilagus nuttallii/floridanus
- SpermophilusSpermophilusSpermophilus is a genus of ground squirrels in the family Sciuridae. The majority of ground squirrel species, over 40 in total, are usually placed in this genus...
sp. - Tamias cf. cinereicollis
- Cynomys cf. ludovicianus
- Dipodomys sp.
- Thomomys bottae
- GeomysGeomysThe genus Geomys contains nine species of pocket gophers often collectively referred to as the eastern pocket gophers. Like all pocket gophers, members of this genus are fossorial herbivores.-Species:*Geomys...
sp. - Microtus mogollonensis
- PeromyscusPeromyscusThe genus Peromyscus contains the animal species commonly referred to as deer mice. This is a genus of New World mouse only distantly related to the common house mouse and laboratory mouse, Mus musculus...
sp. - †Canis dirus
- Canis latrans
- Vulpes velox
- UrocyonUrocyonThe genus Urocyon is a genus that contains two living Western Hemisphere foxes in the family Canidae, the Gray Fox and the closely related Island Fox which is a dwarf cousin of the Gray Fox; as well as one fossil species, Urocyon progressus.Urocyon and the...
sp. - BassariscusBassariscusBassariscus is a genus in the family Procyonidae. There are two species in the genus: the ringtail or ring-tailed cat and the cacomistle . Genetic studies have suggested that the closest relatives of Bassariscus are raccoons.The genus was first described by Elliott Coues in 1887...
sp. - †ArctodusArctodusArctodus — known as the short-faced bear or bulldog bear — is an extinct genus of bear endemic to North America during the Pleistocene ~3.0 Ma.—11,000 years ago, existing for approximately three million years. Arctodus simus may have once been Earth's largest mammalian, terrestrial carnivore...
- Mustela sp.
- Spilogale sp.
- Mephitis mephitis
- Taxidea sp.
- Puma concolor
- Lynx cf rufus
- †EquusEquus (genus)Equus is a genus of animals in the family Equidae that includes horses, donkeys, and zebras. Within Equidae, Equus is the only extant genus. Like Equidae more broadly, Equus has numerous extinct species known only from fossils. This article deals primarily with the extant species.The term equine...
sp. - †HemiaucheniaHemiaucheniaHemiauchenia is a genus of lamine camelids that evolved in North America in the Miocene period approximately 10 million years ago. This genus diversified and moved to South America in the early Pleistocene as part of the Great American Interchange, giving rise to modern lamines...
sp. - †Camelops hesternusCamelopsCamelops is an extinct genus of camels that once roamed western North America, where it disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene about 10,000 years ago. Its name is derived from the Greek κάμελος + , thus "camel-face."-Background:...
- Antilocapra sp.
- †Stockoceros sp. [as †Tetrameryx]
- †Capromeryx sp.
- BisonBisonMembers of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
sp.