Abstract
Dr. James Adovasio, the Heinz History Center’s Director of Archaeology and principal investigator of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter since the first excavation in 1973, returned to the site this past June to remove small blocks of sediment that were at risk of falling out of the East face of the excavation. The damage was caused by the walls of the excavation pit drying out, as it has been open to the air for the last several decades and protected from weather. This drying has caused desiccation cracks around the site that are inspected regularly since they can create problems. Those compromised blocks of soil needed to be removed under controlled circumstances since this portion of the site covers the entire Holocene period, providing information on the environmental and cultural history of the Cross Creek valley since the end of the last ice age.