The boulder that killed him had shifted — the NPS description says he disturbed the rubble supporting it — and come down onto him while he was in the act of scraping or collecting gypsum from the wall or ceiling above.

The preservation of his body was extraordinary.

The cave’s dry air, the same conditions that preserved thousands of other artifacts across the cave passages, had mummified him.

He was five feet three and a half inches tall.

He was estimated to be approximately 45 years of age at the time of death, based on physical examination of his remains — though any age estimate from skeletal analysis of an ancient individual carries significant uncertainty.

He was wearing a blanket or robe tied with cord, and the shell-pendant necklace around his neck was a personal ornament that connects his material culture to broader patterns of shell use in Early Woodland communities.