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Pendejo Cave is a geological feature and archaeological site located in southern New Mexico about 20 miles east of Orogrande. Archaeologist Richard S. MacNeish claimed that human occupation of the cave pre-dates by tens of thousands of years the Clovis Culture, traditionally believed to be one of the oldest if not the oldest culture in the Americas.
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Description
Pendejo is a relatively small cave, only 5 meters wide, 12 meters deep, and having a maximum height of 3 meters. It is below the rim of an escarpment, facing north, and about 50 metres (160 ft) above the canyon floor. The cave is located at an elevation of 1,490 metres (4,890 ft) amidst the sparse desert vegetation of the Chihuahua Desert. A slightly more mesic habitat is found at the foot of the cliffs.
Pendejo is a Spanish word and literally means "a pubic hair", but in Mexico it can also be a vulgar insult.
Archaeological history
Pendejo Cave was discovered in 1978, and twelve years later, in early 1990, the first archaeological expedition headed by MacNeish excavated the site. Another excavation occurred one year later, in late winter and early spring of 1991. Clovis tools were found in the cave, along with tools from later Native societies. Unifacial shavers, utilized flakes, and other artifacts were uncovered and attributed to various eras, along with several examples of worked bone, including a bone awl made from the scapula of a horse, and a knife made from a rib bone.
A number of early Native American artifacts have been found in the cave. A total of 111 chipped tools was found throughout the formation in three complexes with the earliest suggested to date back as far as 75,000 years.
The early dating of the discoveries at Pendejo Cave has generally been discounted by other archaeologists. Faunal remains in the cave had been dated to possibly as old as 55,000 years, but the manufacture and dating of the chipped stones and other alleged artifacts of human origin is disputed.