Rock shelter

{{Short description|Shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff}} {{Redirect|Abri}} {{About|the geological formation|landslip protection|Rock shed}} [[File:Rockhouse Cliffs Rockshelter.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|The larger of the two Rockhouse Cliffs Rock Shelters]]

A '''rock shelter''' (also '''rockhouse''', '''crepuscular cave''', '''bluff shelter''', or '''abri''') is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff.

==Formation== [[Image:Rock shelter Papula.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Rock shelter in the Little Carpathians]]

Rock shelters form because a relatively resistant rock stratum such as sandstone has formed a cliff or bluff, while a softer stratum like shale lies just below and is worn away by erosion (from water flows or wind) and weathering (especially that of frost).<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Cave {{!}} Definition, Formation, Types, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/cave#ref499864 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250804191841/https://www.britannica.com/science/rock-shelter#ref499864 |archive-date=2025-08-04 |access-date=2025-11-21 |work=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oberender |first=Pauline |last2=Plan |first2=Lukas |date=2015-01-15 |title=Cave development by frost weathering |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X14003961 |journal=Geomorphology |series=Karst geomorphology: from hydrological functioning to palaeoenvironmental reconstructions |volume=229 |pages=73–84 |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.07.031 |issn=0169-555X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Rock shelters can be found behind waterfalls<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bader |first=Gregor D. |last2=Val |first2=Aurore |last3=Gevers |first3=Edwin |last4=Rhodes |first4=Sara E. |last5=Stahl |first5=Nina |last6=Woodborne |first6=Stephan |last7=Will |first7=Manuel |date=2024-05-01 |title=Behind the waterfall - Interdisciplinary results from Holley Shelter and their implications for understanding human behavioral patterns at the end of the Middle Stone Age in southern Africa |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379124001343 |journal=Quaternary Science Reviews |volume=331 |doi=10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108633 |issn=0277-3791|hdl=10400.1/25914 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and are typically modest in size compared to deeper formations like solutional caves.<ref name=":0" />

{{gallery| width=400 | title=Rock shelter formation types |Rock shelter formation by frost weathering.svg|Frost weathering weakens a rock face. |Rock shelter formation by karst gallery cutting.svg|Water sinks down into soluble rock. |Rock shelter formation by river erosion.svg|River erosion paves an opening. }}

==Human habitat== [[File: Excavation at Paleolithic site of Bawa Yawan, Zagros, Iran 2017.jpg|thumb|upright|Dig of a Paleolithic site in the Zagros Mountains, Iran]]

Rock shelters are often important archaeologically.<ref name=":0" /> Because rock shelters form natural shelters from the weather, prehistoric humans often used them as living places, leaving behind debris, tools, and other artifacts. Rock shelters in montane areas can be of use to mountaineers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Straus |first=Lawrence Guy |date=1990 |title=Underground Archaeology: Perspectives on Caves and Rockshelters |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20170209 |journal=Archaeological Method and Theory |volume=2 |pages=255–304 |issn=1043-1691}}</ref>

In western Connecticut and eastern New York, many rock shelters are known by the colloquialism "leatherman caves",<ref>[http://www.ctmuseumquest.com/?page_id=6343 CT Museum: Leatherman Caves]</ref> as they were inhabited by the Leatherman over three decades in the late 19th century.

==Unique vegetation== The Cumberland stitchwort (''Minuartia cumberlandensis'') is an endangered species of plant which is found only in rock shelters in Kentucky and Tennessee.<ref>[http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/collection/cpc_viewprofile.asp?CPCNum=13821 Center for Plant Conservation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101215120249/http://centerforplantconservation.org/Collection/CPC_ViewProfile.asp?CPCNum=13821 |date=2010-12-15 }}</ref>

==Notable examples== * {{annotated link|Bhimbetka rock shelters}} * {{annotated link|Fincha Habera, Ethiopia|Fincha Habera Rock Shelter}} * {{annotated link|Gatecliff Rockshelter}} * {{annotated link|Kinlock Shelter}} * {{annotated link|Mesa Verde National Park}} * {{annotated link|Roc-aux-Sorciers}} * {{annotated link|Schweizersbild}} * {{annotated link|Shelter Rock (Manhasset, New York)|Shelter Rock}} * {{annotated link|Walnut Canyon National Monument}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == * Acosta ''et al''., 2018. "[http://boletinsgm.igeolcu.unam.mx/bsgm/index.php/component/content/article/368-sitio/articulos/cuarta-epoca/7001/1857-7001-1-acosta Climate change and peopling of the Neotropics during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition]". Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana.

==External links== * {{Commons category inline|Rock shelters}}

Category:Rock shelters