What can be said is that his presence there — alone, deep in the cave’s dark zone, with artificial light and the physical capacity to navigate the difficult terrain — represents a deliberate engagement with a challenging environment that speaks to the capabilities and the knowledge of the early Holocene people of the Colorado Rockies.

The Torch Marks And The Silence

Step back from the laboratory results for a moment and consider what the torch marks on the cave walls actually represent.

They are the trace of a specific act: a flame, held by a specific person, passing close enough to a specific surface to deposit carbon.

The carbon from that flame is still on the cave wall.

It has been there since the man passed through, many thousands of years ago, and it will continue to be there as long as the cave’s conditions remain stable enough to preserve it.