The smudge marks on walls are more directly associated with torch-bearing movement through specific passages, but dating them precisely is more technically demanding.

The combination of both lines of evidence — ancient charcoal in the cave sediments and smudge marks on cave walls in the passages between the entrance and the location of the bones — builds a picture of ancient torch-bearing activity in the deep cave that is stronger than either line alone would provide.

What The Rocky Mountains Were Like Then

Imagining the Colorado Rockies as they were approximately 8,800 years ago requires letting go of the modern landscape and replacing it with something both familiar and different.

The basic topography was similar.