This Cave Has Captivated Human Curiosity For Centuries
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- Come along with us as we visit this middle Tennessee cave that has captivated human curiosity for over two centuries. Not only was this cave used by early indigenous native people, it was also used during at least one war for saltpeter mining as well as modern people who graffitied the cave walls. We were invited along on this trip to push some potential leads in the cave. After checking out the first section and finding no going passage, we went to check out another. The other passage we checked ended up having thousands of signatures from visitors who have been in this cave as far back as 1809.
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All that paint and graffiti is a huge downer. People really need to learn to take only pictures and leave nothing behind. Great channel. Love your videos.
Yes it was crazy to see how much there was here.
In the 1990’s, Jan Simek dated two cane torch fragments from here. The average C-14 date was 570 BC. We only dated 2 samples out of the thousands scattered around the cave. I have an image showing a pile of cane torch fragments mixed with dozens of pine torches, a pack rat nest. When we mapped the Deep South passage, that you were in, I set a survey station 200 vertical feet directly below the entrance sinkhole ladder. Everything floods badly down there. It is completely different than most of the cave.
Oh wow. Yea Thanny was telling about some of the stuff you had done in there. I didn't know about the dating back to 570 though. It's a shame all the modern spray paint has ruined so much of it.
Wow indeed! That cave has some deep history. Doesn't that tell of people's in N.America way befor what most historians claim?
@@tag_caver 570 BC
Look up that Nebraska Ave address. It is now the Los Angeles Water Department! We recorded and studied every signature that we could read throughout the West Entrance. Of course Thanny was part of that too. Absolum Brown is an interesting one. He was a Cherokee that lived on Brown Mountain there. He wrote his name twice, 50 years apart!
We only saw the one, that would have been interesting to see the second one from 50 years later.
@@tag_caver I emailed a photo of it to you just now. I also included other pics from there, even the ladder before it was burned. That pegged and tied ladder used to go into an upper level passage there. Jason saw it as a lead up high. I surveyed that passage. It is tight, sharp with crystals, and extremely dusty. Horrible really. I also hung the red rope, replacing a cotton rope that I climb only to find that rats had turned the rope that was hanging on into a huge fur ball. I was literally hanging by a thread that day. That upper passage is horrible too. Definitely not worth it. There is also a 3rd level below you there around the red rope.
@@Tennessee-Explorer Hmm, I did not get the photo - rowland7840@bellsouth.net. Files might have been too large? We were wondering about that rope too!
I built that scaling pole to investigate the pack rats nests up high. I often heard rats run through them. The sound of dried cane (torches) was unmistakable. Vandals broke in and destroyed it. I think it would have to be cut to be removed now. I built the wooden bypass ladder too to keep people off of the historic ladder.
That cave is soooooo DRY! Thanny said some bones were found up there too.
@@tag_caver I found a deer leg that still had fur on it above the scaling pole. Other bones too. There were gourd fragments with red paint still on them. That was likely a container for mined gypsum because much of it was mined at that same spot. Sandstone hammer stones can still be seen on the floor, along with coprolites. So they ground and consumed the gypsum powder on site for a laxative. That is the theory. The coprolites were studied under a microscope to better understand the Indians diet. They were hunter gatherers with many stomach issues, as the study showed. Also in the rats nest above the scaling pole was a turtle shell. Clearly another container for gypsum. I think it is still there. And I guarantee you that there are more of those pack rats nests deeper into the cave up on the high ledges. No telling what you might find after so many years of human visitation.
@@Tennessee-Explorer oh wow. Thank you for sharing. Jason had mentioned he had heard about the coprolites but we didn't look hard enough for those.
Really interesting to see Dr. Barr's name there. That cave could have a thousand leads and a signature at the end of each one lol. What's the surveyed length.
Right! People really did explore all over this cave!
Very cool 😎 stay safe...
Pretty cool cave!
One of those cavers has a Mannly voice ;-)
Probably a mannly man.
Interesting inscription at 13:35... D. Boone 1765. Could this really be a 31 y.o. Daniel Boone??
Daniel Boon to my knowledge lived mostly in Kentucky. This cave is located in middle Tennessee so it could be possible but there is no way to really know for certain.
We always called caves like that ‘sacrificial caves’. All the crazies with the spray cans can go nuts in there, and stay away from the ones we all keep secret. Still, the history is interesting, being a saltpeter working. At least you maintain a sense of humour with the graffiti, as much as it reminds us how people just suck in general. Thanks for sharing, as difficult as it was to watch at times.
Thank you.
That is definitely a awesome looking cave… I just don’t understand why people destroy all the old names scratched into the rocks with all that paint… definitely been lots of people in it… thanks girl…
Thank you. Me neither. It was crazy how many people had done it here too. Apparently there is evidence of Natives using this cave over 2,000 years ago. A lot of that was probably destroyed.
I wonder if any of the rock filled side passages might go somewhere.
Doubtful but we didn't poke in them as there was massive air hitting us in the face from the main passage
Guano is a clear sign that a mask could be very beneficial for some folk! “there’s no air up here… there’s the poop again…” Exactly, all kind of bad. Like black mold bad. PS they are both commonly found in the same environment.
Yes, we are very aware of the dangers of bat guano and the risk of histoplasmosis.
@@tag_caver I’m sure you are! 😁 it was an add-in comment just in case an inexperienced reader becomes inspired to give spelunking a try. I love it, but my weaknesses could have easily turned it sour for me had others not prepared me for it. Kentucky is a fantastic playground, too - come up for a visit!
Fascinating and fun. Thanks for the tour.
Thank you
❣💯👍