The fundamental epistemological problem of Mammoth Cave’s prehistoric archaeology is worth stating precisely, because it is easy to slide past it in the way that archaeology sometimes slides past its own limits.

The cave preserved physical objects and physical marks — the material residue of behavior.

What it did not preserve, and cannot preserve, is the cultural meaning that gave that behavior its context.

The gourd bowl near the mining wall tells you that a container was placed there.

It does not tell you whether placing it there had ceremonial meaning, whether it was a practical work pause, or whether the person who placed it intended to come back and pick it up.

The pictographs on the cave walls tell you that someone made marks there.