The 8,500-year-old skeletons found in the Texas cave and sinkhole systems are part of that history.

Their DNA mystery, however it is eventually resolved or left unresolved, is part of the story of who was here before us, and how far back the human story of America actually goes.

It goes back much further than most people know.

And the caves are still keeping their secrets, for anyone patient enough to descend into the limestone dark and look.

How Radiocarbon Dating Reads The Past — And What It Confirmed In Texas