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HomeHistory StoriesFrom the Files of the Lassen Historical Society: The Tommy Tucker Cave

From the Files of the Lassen Historical Society: The Tommy Tucker Cave

Thomas Tucker, for whom the cave in the Amedee Mountains is named.

by Susan Couso

We often think that the settlement of the Lassen County area began as the European-Americans first came to the area in their covered wagons. Although, when those emigrants first arrived, people had been living in the area for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Without a written history, these indigenous people’s stories have been all but lost. But there are glimpses of the distant past that remain throughout the area, and Tommy Tucker Cave is a window into the lives of these early people.

The area was long the home of the Wadadokado Northern Paiute, and the vast Lake Lahontan once covered most of the region. Honey Lake, Pyramid Lake, and Walker Lake are all remnants of this extinct inland sea, and as the climate changed, so did the level of the shoreline.

Today, Tommy Tucker Cave sets about 200′ above the valley floor, but at one time, as levels rose, the cave was under water. Calcareous tufa deposits adhering to the walls show the former depth of the lake.

The cave had been a refuge for many centuries. Dating is difficult, and by the major excavation done in 1954, the original floor of the cave was never reached.

Franklin Fenenga and Francis Riddell, from the University of California Archaeological Survey, did extensive work on the project and recorded their findings. Deposits from the site are as early as 1 A.D., but most research suggests a date of around 100 A.D. as the beginning of the cave’s use.

Further excavation to reach the original floor of the cave may yield a much earlier date.

Hundreds of items were found in the forty-five-foot-long cave. Baskets, tools, points, beads, and ornaments were abundant, and there was an unusual wooden ‘boomerang’ shaped stick which archaeologists think may have been used to hunt rabbits.

Woven sandals, sewing needles, and deer-hoof rattles were unearthed. Abalone shell ornaments show trade from out of the area, and bone hair pins bring the human element a little closer. ‘Slow matches’ or frayed bark fire sticks were discovered. These sticks were used to carry fire from one place to another.

Delicate wooden objects were found, and an 8′ X 4′ pictograph, rare to the area, was on the wall. The pictographs, colored with mineral pigments are much less common than the incised rock petroglyphs, and are estimated to be more than five hundred years old.

The hearth areas had sleeping areas nearby. The ceiling is covered with many, many years of soot from the hearth. The cave was an amazing look at life, and a valuable tool to help understand just how people existed.

Since the cave was first excavated, vandals have made their mark, indeed, some of the early pictographs may have been considered a form of vandalism, but in the summer of 2016, a devastating event occurred. Vandals struck the cave with exceptional brutality.

The Bureau of Land Management worked to try to erase the vandalism. They spent five days and almost $9,000, to restore as much of the cave as possible, but some damage was permanent. After surviving for so many years, much of this archaeological treasure was wiped away in a day.

Jeremy Couso
Jeremy Couso
SusanvilleStuff.com Publisher/Editor
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