Posted on 02/21/2008 4:58:17 PM PST by blam
UNSEEN WORLD
By RACHAEL TOLLIVER
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:58 PM CST
JILL PICKETT/The News-Enterprise
George Crothers, director of the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and Office of State Archaeology, finishes collecting ash from torch remains for radiocarbon dating during a February trip into the cave in Hardin County.
Local cave enthusiasts chart discovery of pristine formations, prehistoric Indians
HARDIN COUNTY, KENTUCKY — Mankind has always dreamed of discovering the unknown — being the first to do something or arrive somewhere — and from those quests leave a legacy that those who follow will envy.
Such finds are rare. However, members of the Fort Knox Grotto, a local spelunking club, are among the privileged few to be able to say “Guess what we found?”
Not only did Grotto members discover a cave that members believe to be the largest in Hardin County but Grotto Chairman Steve Austin said it’s a cave that has not been touched by humans for at least a thousand years.
“Since we’ve been exploring the cave, we’ve found pristine collections of cave formations — beautiful helectites, stalactites, stalagmites and unique gypsum formations.” He said members have crawled through “deep pits and humongous domes — big walking passages and tight canyon walls, even false floors. Some of our members have made some very significant finds in the caving community with this cave.” ADVERTISEMENT
As if that isn’t enough, the cave contains significant evidence of pre-historic Indian activity, which predates the histories of known area Native Americans.
“The most fascinating of all finds has to be the presence of pre-historic Indians — the Woodland period (2,000-3,000 years old),” Austin said.
Grotto members also found an extensive gypsum mining operation — possibly used for medicinal and ceremonial purposes — where entire walls were scored to extract the mineral. Remains of torches and a few carvings on the walls also are evident. The Indians even dug in the dirt for selenite, another mineral of significance to them.
“This is the biggest find in the caving community in 30 years,” Austin said.
Glenn Turner, one of several grotto members credited with the discovery, was on his way back from checking out a smaller known cave when he saw a sink hole and decided to explore further.
“We (went) to look around the hillside at the numerous small sinks,” he said. “The cave was merely a stoop-over-and-walk-in opening at the bottom of a depression.”
The explorers found a cave not known to man for thousands of years and are keeping its exact location secret to protect the history it holds.
“Most caves yield virgin passage, which all cavers yearn to be a part of. But to discover a virgin cave is the pinnacle of caving desire,” Austin said. “This cave hasn’t been seen by man (for) 2,000-3,000 years and the Indians only saw a small portion of that. So, we’ve made a significant find — that’s why it’s important to map and preserve the cave as we now know it.”
The group has done something, been somewhere and seen something no one else has for a long time.
“I am amazed at where the Indians went carrying only a small red torch, sometimes wondering if they made it to a particular spot,” Turner said. “In some cases, I looked at a large drop, satisfied that if I made it down there, no Indian could have preceded me, only to go down and find massive signs of Indian mining.
“I’ve also been into areas where clearly no one has ever been — where I know I am seeing a new world, new formations. I am seeing the unseen, knowing, experiencing the unknown … a discoverer in the most simplistic absolute sense. It’s an exhilarating feeling of being special, privileged and unique.”
According to Dr. George Crothers, director of the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and Office of State Archaeology, this find is not only rare, but unique.
He considers the Hardin County discovery to be a significant find.
“First, the cave appears not to have been entered by humans since the Indians. Therefore we can attribute all modification in the cave as being prehistoric Indian in origin rather than from historic exploration, or saltpeter mining, or any number of other Euro-American or African-American activities in caves.
“Second, this makes only the seventh cave known from this region with this type of gypsum mining evidence,” he said. The most well-known is Mammoth Cave.
Crothers, who also is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky, said it is extremely rare to find a large cave system like this one that is untouched.
“You may find segments of cave passage that had not been previously entered, but it’s rare to find such a large cave system that (was) pristine,” he said. “Of course, we know the Indians modified it some, removing gypsum, moving and stacking rock in tight crawlways to make it easier to crawl through, stacking rocks in small cairns, probably to mark their way through the cave, and apparently scratching some marks on the wall, probably also to mark their way. These marks do not appear to be actual petroglyphs or drawings, but may have simply been clues to find their way through the passages. Because there is no indication that anyone has entered this cave since the Indians, we are safe to assume that these modifications were done by prehistoric explorers.”
Crothers said groups like the Fort Knox Grotto are important in the discovery and preservation of Kentucky history.
“First, the grotto members were keen to recognize the signs of prehistoric exploration and mining. They then proceeded very cautiously so they wouldn’t destroy anything and then they contacted my office to report the find,” he said.
“One of my research interests is the use of caves, so it was naturally something I wanted to check on. Grottos and other cavers who explore caves on a regular basis make most of these discoveries. I try to maintain contact and good relations with the caving community, so that when they do find something unusual they report it to me.”
Austin, who is an Army sergeant first class, said the original find started with five grotto members and has grown since the project began.
“The grotto has 44 members and all are a part of the project,” he said. “But typically there are 10 of us that maintain a ‘full-time’ attitude to surveying and exploring the cave.
“When we discovered the cave in August ’07, we originally didn’t notice any evidence of Indians. We were too excited to have found a virgin cave,” he said. “On the second trip in, we noticed a few burn marks in the ceilings and then noticed some marks on the wall, then noticed a few pieces of river cane.”
While the group’s name has Fort Knox in it and soldiers participate, a large part of the grotto is made up of civilians from around the area. They are always looking for new members, even if they have no previous caving experience. Austin said the grotto will “teach them the basics.”
“Surveying trips go out throughout the week — really whenever anyone can get together to go. The trips can last between a couple of hours to several hours,” Austin said.
“Surveying a cave is strenuous and takes commitment. If you’re interested, get in touch with us and we’ll set you up on a trip. We’ll teach you how we read and pull tapes to measure the passages, and we are always looking for cartographers. Can anyone sketch?”
as a former spelunker, i too would be exceedingly excited at such a find.
Thanks for posting this, Blam.
Incredible stuff.
A Kentucky Ping, please. :)
Thanks. SunkenCiv found this article for us.
Ummm...as I recall, scat or non-fossilized “corpolites” has turned out to be a significant source of information on ancient cave visitors in other big caves. It reveals diet, health, local plants & animals consumed and cultivated, etc.
Kinda surprise they didn’t bring it up, but I suspect some scientists are afraid to admit to this as a specialty.
Dogwood City Grotto 1960s.
First to the top of the big waterfall in Byers.
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Thanks Blam. And nice job, this is a very good looking posting (better than the original article, IMHO). |
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I grew up in Kentucky and used to do some spelunking. Never found any Indian artifacts....but we did once find an old still, waaaaayy back in a cave, that had axe-marks in it from being broken up by the Revenuers!!
My grandpa spent a year in prison for moonshining way back when.
Down, boy
When in doubt, quote Bob Dole
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