The Mammoth Cave system is the largest cave system in the world, containing over 300 miles of known passageways and spanning over three counties in Central Kentucky. Mammoth Cave National Park is located in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky but the system itself runs through Edmondson, Hart and Barren Counties. One of the several individual caves which make up the system is Salts Cave, which has been the most extensively researched by Patty Jo Watson and her associates. The materials found here are consistent with those found at other regions of Mammoth Cave but differ in both their quantity and frequency.
Occupations at Mammoth Cave date back to the Paleo-Indian Period which is evidenced by the discovery of a few spear points used for hunting mega-fauna. Subsequent cultures also utilized Mammoth Cave, thriving up until the Mississippian Period where the number of sites declined due to the limited flood plain area needed for large-scale agriculture. The fascination surrounding Mammoth Cave is partly due to the diverse cultures found in Mammoth Cave.
Paleo-Indians may have begun setting up seasonal encampments around 12,000 years ago but were definitely exploring the cave's passageways around 5000-3000 BP. Mammoth Cave may have enjoyed its largest populations in the Woodland Periods (3000 BP- 1100 BP) where ritual and mortuary activities were at their peak.
Mammoth Cave is believed to have been used primarily for mining. The cave system offered a resource base rich in gypsum, selenite, mirabilite, epsomite, mica and copper, all of which could be used for trade and ceremonial rituals. Magnesium compounds such as the mirabilite and epsomite had medicinal properties which were used locally but it is likely that it was also traded outside of the region.
Patty Jo Watson focused on the two areas of Flint Alley and Salts Sink for sampling of lithics found in Mammoth Cave. These areas are thought to be "workshops" of Mammoth Cave, characterized by cores, chert fragments and unutilized flakes. Projectile points and knives showed up with the most frequency while spokeshave scrapers were also found. Due to the presence of these scrapers it is believed that this site is no later than an Early Woodland site. (Watson, p.11)
Early Woodland ceramics were characterized by thick-walled, barrel-shaped pots tempered with chert and limestone to prevent cracking. Later on in this period, new vessel forms emerged as well as more elaborate decorative styles incorporating textile markings.
Hunting patterns in Mammoth Cave are still unknown as there is no evidence to support this type of activity. The diet mainly consisted of cultivated plants and grains but some animal protein did show up in paleofecal analysis. Deer, turkey, river mussels, a variety of smaller mammals such as rodents, and some amphibians were eaten occasionally suggesting that protein was not readily available. Instead, research has shown that they made extensive use of vegetation.
There were many cultivated plants in the Mammoth Cave diet long before the introduction of corn. Maygrass, sunflowers, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, sumpweed, goosefoot, dandelions, amaranth and sweetflag made up the majority of their diet. The interesting aspect of these plants is that many of them are seasonal which supports the hypothesis that Mammoth Cave was not a year-round home, but rather spring and summer were the most common times of occupation.
Investigations in Mammoth Cave began as early as the 1800's when explorers mapped the cave openings as well as some of the passageways. Mammoth Cave tours in the 1800's were not uncommon and attracted several tourists with the means and the courage to enter the caves. Since 1963, the Cave Research Foundation has sponsored archaeological work in the larger caves of Mammoth Cave National Park. Patty Jo Watson and her teams have been excavating these caves since the early 1970's. They have done extensive work on the utilization of the caves and the diets of the people who used the caves. Methodology includes experimental archaeology which has led to the conclusion that stone tools in Mammoth Cave were produced by percussion flaking. Carbon-14 dating of fecal matter has determined the diets of cave inhabitants in a particular time and space. Also flotation analysis used to study the caves sediment added more information to environmental conditions.
Watson, Patty Jo. Archeology of the Mammoth Cave Area. New York: Academic Press. 1974.