They were not casual containers.

Someone selected them for this specific purpose, brought them underground, used them to collect or carry minerals, and either left them intentionally or abandoned them when the mission went wrong.

The wooden climbing poles found in some passages indicate that the ancient explorers were ascending vertical surfaces — that the 19 miles they covered was not a flat walk but an active climbing and scrambling route through passages that required physical skill and improvised equipment to navigate.

The cave’s passages are not uniformly accessible.