Whether this is what the mining expeditions were or whether it is an additional layer of meaning applied to activities that were primarily economic remains an open question.

The NPS statement on the subject is unambiguous about the uncertainty: “There is no direct evidence to explain what they were using these minerals for.” What archaeology can say is that the operation was sustained and significant.

What the minerals actually did in the lives and communities of the people who collected them is the central unanswered question of Mammoth Cave’s prehistoric archaeology.

What Footprints Record — Reading The Cave Floor