Every researcher who enters the cave to study the prehistoric evidence has to operate in ways that do not destroy the very things they are trying to understand.

The tribal consultation process that the NPS conducts with the seven affiliated nations is not a completed project but an ongoing relationship.

The park and the tribes work together on how the cave’s Indigenous history is interpreted and presented, how human remains are handled, and how the deep cultural significance of the cave is acknowledged in public programming.

The affiliated nations include communities whose cultural traditions span the full breadth of Eastern North America — nations whose histories include the Eastern woodlands, the river valleys, the forests and plains of a continent that was, before European colonization, organized around Indigenous peoples’ knowledge and stewardship.

The cave that ancient miners explored for three thousand years is now the subject of ongoing scientific research, public tourism, and tribal consultation — three different ways of engaging with the same space and the same history, not always in perfect harmony but increasingly in productive dialogue.