Intereting Cave Finds

Bella Rae · 01-23-2012, 10:23 PM

Has anyone ever found anything interesting while spelunking or cave exploring? Things like arrowheads, ancient wall writings, or anything like that? I have always heard that people use to hide treasures in caves. Sure wish I could find a cave like that!

Grandpa · 01-24-2012, 01:19 AM

Not me but then I don't visit many caves. There is a lava tube out in the Snake River plain. This cave had been found and lost a couple of times before someone finally found their way back to it. This was in the mid 1980's. It was loaded with ancient native American artifacts and , luckily, the finders contacted the ISU Archaeology dept and everything was safely removed and is now in the ISU museum of Natural History.

The cave is called Bobcat cave. We took some cubscouts out there last year to see it. Needless to say, there was a den of bobcats living in it so our cubs got a unique experience to actually be in a live den.

Miley · 01-24-2012, 07:39 AM

When I was younger, my friends and I spotted a cave in our state park. We thought it would be cool to just walk into it. So, there the four of us are, me in the lead, crouched down and trying to be cave explorers, with crappy flashlights. We finally get to a room that opened up a little, so we can stand up. It was still a small opening, so for some reason I looked up. I have never seen so many spiders in my life, it was like the walls and ceilings were made of them. I start backing up, and the others caught a glimpse of the spiders. We high tailed it out of the cave real fast, and decided we would leave cave exploring to the experts!

**CozInCowtown** · 01-24-2012, 08:37 AM

Under some bluffs on my fathers ranch there are some petrified bones hanging out of the limestone.
We allways find petrified seashells while plowing.
DC

Bella Rae · 01-24-2012, 09:54 AM

That is really neat, Coz. Do you have any idea what the bones belonged to? If I were you, Miley, I would have wet myself. I am ok with one or two spiders, but a cave of them would be crazy scary!

Marshmallow · 01-24-2012, 10:51 AM

Whenever we dig down really deep, we come up with the petrified seashells. Some of those things are enormous. A few years ago we used them to create a still life at the high school where students are still using them as subjects for their drawing skills.

racoon · 01-28-2012, 11:25 AM

Miley, I thought the ceiling was going to be covered with bats, when reading your story. Spider, Bats, both are creepy!

Coz, wow, I wonder just how old these petrified bones and shells are. Have they ever been evaluated? I wonder where to take them for this.

ppine · 01-29-2012, 12:16 PM

This part of the world is famous for well preserved artifacts in caves due to the low humidity. So called "perishables" like fish nets, sandals, duck decoys, and baskets abound in places like Pyramid Lake which is Paiute country. The volcanic tuffa formations have lots of caves (and crevice burials) and have added a lot to the knowledge base for primitive peoples from 2,000-11,000 years ago.