However, linkages with the Northern Plains are also suggested. Current research in Wyoming archaeology suggests a period of higher activity in the Bighorn Basin during the Late Plains Archaic (2000-1500 BP), with the construction of pit-houses and a greater reliance on edible plants similar to cultural remains from the Great Basin (Kornfeld et al. While the SCC atlatl has many aspects of Basketmaker II atlatls from the Southwest-in the plano-convex shaft, square distal end, short loading groove and raised spur-it may also have characteristics of atlatls from the northern Great Basin and Northern Plains.
The wood of the atlatl was well-worked, painted with ochre and polished. The cave yielded a number of atlatl and dart artifacts, including 4 proximal (handle end) fragments, but only one distal fragment, which matched one of the proximal fragments to represent a nearly whole atlatl shaft. Spring Creek Cave (SCC) was excavated by George Frison and crew in the 1950’s (Frison 1965). (A visit to the latter is recommended.) Spring Creek and Daugherty Caves are suggested to have been seasonal campsites for mobile hunters. Just a few kilometers to the south is Daugherty Cave (Frison 1968), which housed similar cultural deposits, while approximately 27 kilometers to the north is the Medicine Lodge Creek site, with extensive occupation and impressive rock art. While the mountains are fairly gradual and receive more precipitation, the basin has been likened to an arid, Great Basin-like environment. Such ecotones provided a larger variety of animal and plant resources for ancient peoples than the neighboring environments. Setting : Spring Creek Cave is located high in the cliffs on the western edge of Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains, in a narrow, environmental transition zone between the mountains and the Big Horn Basin to the west. The addition of some hypothetical attachments and a little experimenting could help explain the ancient weapons kit. The Spring Creek Cave atlatl is a small, curious device. In The Atlatl, volume 27, number 2, pages 3-5 Reproducing the Atlatl from Spring Creek Cave, Wyoming
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