For people moving through the northern Great Basin approximately 14,000 years ago, this combination would have been highly attractive.

A south-facing cave above a lake provides shelter, warmth in winter, a commanding view of the surrounding terrain, and proximity to the diverse resources of a lake-edge environment.

The caves are not hidden or inaccessible; they sit in a position that any competent land-reading person moving through the basin would recognize as valuable.

The caves have multiple chambers and alcoves — sufficient to shelter small groups, to store materials, to provide a semi-permanent habitation site that people could return to across seasons.

The sediment that has accumulated on the cave floors over thousands of years preserves not just the artifacts that people left behind but the organic residues of daily life: food processing, fire use, sleep, and — critically for the Paisley story — biological waste.