Peabody Museum-National Geographic Early Man Expedition

The Peabody Museum-National Geographic Early Man Expedition at Hell Gap, Wyoming was a six-year (seasonal) archaeological study of the prehistory of the high plains of eastern Wyoming. The principal investigators on the expedition were Henry T. Irwin of the Peabody Museum, his sister, archaeologist Cynthia Irwin-Williams, and George A. Agogino of the Eastern New Mexico University. Hell Gap had continuous human occupation for 11,000 years and was an excellent site example of tool development.

The main objective of the expedition was the systematic removal of enough material from the various cultural complexes represented at the site (Folsom and Clovis, Midland, Agate Basin, Hell Gap, Cody, and the Frederick) to identify their archaeological content. The main thrust of the work was to reconstruct a lifeway on the Great Plains that existed between 9000 B.C. and 5000 B.C. The study included not only archaeological excavations, but climatic interpretations based on geology and geomorphology by C. Vance Haynes, University of Arizona, assisted by Dr. John M. Saul, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Many students also assisted on the site.

Sources:

Irwin, Henry T., Cynthia Irwin-Williams and George A. Agogino. 1968. "Archaeological investigations at the Hell Gap site near Guernsey, Wyoming." National Geographic Society Research Reports, 1963 Projects. Washington: National Geographic Society . pp. 151-156.

Irwin, Henry T. 1969. "Archaeological investigations at Hell Gap site, Guernsey, Wyoming." National Geographic Society Research Reports, 1964 Projects. Washington: National Geographic Society . pp. 113-116.

From the guide to the Hell Gap Expedition Records, 1961-68, (Peabody Museum Archives)