The specific conditions within each sinkhole determine whether the organic remains within it survive long enough to be recovered and studied.

Bering Sinkhole’s remains were described as better preserved than those from many other Texas sinkhole sites, where the bone preservation was noted as often poor.

The conditions within Bering Sinkhole — its specific combination of soil chemistry, temperature, humidity, and depth — were favorable enough to preserve skeletal remains over thousands of years.

Buckeye Knoll’s open site conditions were different.

The floodplain setting, with periodic flooding and sediment deposition, is a more challenging preservation environment in some ways, though the waterlogged conditions of some floodplain sites can actually preserve organic materials well.

The Guadalupe River floodplain at Buckeye Knoll apparently offered sufficient preservation to maintain bone collagen for radiocarbon dating and stable isotope analysis — a demanding standard.