Paleo Slide Set: Packrat Middens: Vegetation & Climate Variability in the Southwestern United States
Allen Canyon Cave, [2200 m] in San Juan County, Utah.

At 2200 m in elevation on the south flank of the Abajo Mountains, southeastern Utah, Allen Canyon
 Cave is carved into the Navajo Sandstone. The modern vegetation is a patchwork of pinon-juniper 
woodlands on exposed slopes, with a dense stand of ponderosa pine, aspen, Douglas fir and Rocky 
Mountain maple directly in front of the cave. Eight middens from the site were radiocarbon dated 
and subsequently analyzed for macrofossil composition, yielding a picture of vegetation dynamics 
at the site over the past 11,300 years. 

Photo Credits:
Julio Betancourt 
U. S. Geological Survey