In the period when Spirit Cave Man was alive, the extensive wetlands around ancient Lake Lahontan would have provided abundant tule.

The making of tule mats required considerable skill and time: the plant stems had to be harvested at the right season, prepared correctly, and woven with a technique that produced a flexible, durable mat suitable for a wide range of purposes.

Tule mats were used for shelter, for sleeping, for carrying, for wrapping — and, as the Spirit Cave burial showed, for the treatment of the dead.

The use of tule mats in burial was documented in later Great Basin cultures, and the specific construction of the Spirit Cave mats was consistent with the traditions that would be documented ethnographically among the region’s historic peoples.