[Ezekiel]

Each shaft has a central column wrapped in perfect helical coils and terminates more than 3,500 feet below the plateau...

Squirrel-"proofing" obviously goes way back. 3,500 feet sounds about right.

People might think these are only modern, first-world problems, but according to Wikipedia,

"Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa, and were introduced by humans to Australia.[1] The earliest known fossilized squirrels date from the Eocene epoch..."

If that's the... case, I wonder if the researchers have thought to look for squirrel mummies. Shouldn't be too hard to ID -- those little peanut-shaped coffins would be such a dead giveaway, even if they'd been raided.

Look, a squirrel! 🥜

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

--- Look, a squirrel! 🥜

You have -- in a nutshell :) -- well described so much of "studies say" and "on condition of anonymity" and "scientists confirmed," and all the similar sorts of titles and messages.

Comes down to "LOOK AT ME!" then, as one looks even a little deeper, another message is found: "send more money."

Example: "...podcast...." meaning just another YouTube monetized video, whose "channel" includes "visit our store" for "merch" and the like.

The Daily Mail site links to many more pages, all linked to messaging in which some version of "send money" / "spend money" and trawling for email addresses are seen. We are the data they seek. We are the wallets they want to open. We are the potential votes for spending more money this way and that.

Caveat emptor.