The mud floors of certain caves also still preserve indigenous footprints, bare footprints belonging to men, women, and children. ![]() Mississippian era engravings and black stoke marks in a Tennessee Cave Archaic cane torch charcoal and Mississippian era stroke marks in caves in Tennessee This charcoal is clear evidence of Archaic Native American cave exploration. ![]() 4,000 year old cane torch charcoal in the dark zone of a cave in the American Southeast. (The residual material of these “stoke marks” can be carbon dated with remarkable precision.) Far underground, modern cavers also occasionally encounter supplies of unused cane torches that Native Americans cached to springboard deeper explorations and allow them a re-supply on their way back to the upper world. The black splotches where they “ashed” their cane torches to reduce the amount of smoke the torches emitted are common underground. We know Native Americas reached those places for a variety of reasons. Those intrepid Indigenous cave explorers lit their way with smoky cane torches, and they reached locations deep within caves that hardcore modern cavers find difficult to attain. No competent modern caver would dream of entering a cave without two reliable sources of light, one an LED capable of providing some 70 hours of illumination.Īstoundingly, Indigenous cave explorers ventured as far as 3 miles into southeastern caves 5,000 years before the invention of electric lights. Underground without a light source, homo sapiens is a helpless animal. In any era, cave exploration requires courage, specific skills, a unique mindset, and a portable light source. ![]() In the dark zone, the darkness is so complete a person can’t tell whether their eyes are open or closed. Not one iota of light penetrates the “dark zone” beyond the reach of surface light. In the “twilight zone” near a cave entrance, light filtering in from the surface creates a gloomy illumination. Indigenous Cave Explorers ventured as far as three miles into southeastern caves 5,000 years before the invention of electric light.Ĭaves are eerie and dangerous places imbued with strange power.
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