The caves’ cool, relatively stable temperatures, the protection from direct rainfall and freeze-thaw cycling, and the specific chemistry of limestone cave sediments can maintain bone and other organic material in states of preservation that open-air sites cannot match.

When researchers entered On Your Knees Cave and began systematic investigation of its sediments, they were not initially expecting to find ancient human remains.

The cave had shown promise as a site for investigating the paleontological record of the island — the bones of animals from past ecological periods.

What they found went considerably beyond that.

The Discovery and What Came Out of the Ground

The specific discovery of human remains in On Your Knees Cave occurred as part of a systematic archaeological survey and excavation program.