Cup and groove petroglyphs near entrance. Photograph by Mike Chervinko - December 2025
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Lidar scan using an iPhone by Michael Fuller, December 2025.
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Bushnell Cave, 23SG89
Two bird petroglyphs with a cupule in between are situated just inside the mouth of cave. Photographs by Mike Chervinko, 2024.
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Nested circles petroglyph. Photographs by Mike Chervinko, 2024.
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Cross-in-circle petroglyph. The iconography of the Bushnell Ceremonial Cave corresponds to the Mississippian Period (AD 900 - 1450) rock art at several sites in Missouri and Illinois. Photograph by Mike Chervinko, 2024.
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Open hand with splayed fingers petroglyph photographed by Mike Chervinko - December 2025.
This motif shows up in the petroglyphs at Washington State Park site and Three Hills Creek site - both along the Big River in Washington County, MO.
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Bushnell Cave is a petroglyph site inside of the mouth of a small cave in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri. The site is situated on private property and is not open to the public. A spring issues from the mouth of the cave. The cave is within a half days walk of the large Mississippian center called the Commonfield Mound site. Archaeological Survey of Missouri number 23SG89 and Missouri Speleological Survey number SGE008. Photograph by Mike Chervinko, 2024. The site is 39 miles from the 23WA01, and 52 miles from both the St. Louis Big Mound and Cahokia Mounds plaza.
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Bird petroglyphs. Photographs by Mike Chervinko, 2024.
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Over 150 cupules and pit-and-groove petroglyphs are situated on a bedrock apron at the entrance of the cave. Photograph by Mike Chervinko, 2024.
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Map published by Bushnell (1914:Figure 6) of the petroglyphs visible at the beginning of the 20th century. The original ASM (Archaeological Suvey of Missouri) site report was submitted by Frank Magre; the form is undated and probably belongs to the 1950s. An update form was submitted in 1987 by Greg Fox and Teresita Majewski; they could only relocate 3 petroglyphs. Site update forms were submitted by Fuller in 2014 and 2024. More photographs and text can be found at http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/BushnellCave.html/
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