The Ancient Native American Found 2.5 Miles Inside Mammoth Cave — And The Mystery Of Why His People Went So Deep Underground

Two Thousand Years Of Absence

Between approximately 200 BCE and the late eighteenth century CE, Mammoth Cave was not a place where humans systematically went.

The local Indigenous nations of the historic period — Cherokee, Shawnee, Chickasaw, and others — were the peoples of Kentucky and the surrounding region.

The NPS currently consults with seven affiliated nations regarding the park’s cultural heritage, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the Shawnee Tribe, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, and the Chickasaw Nation.

But there is no evidence that these communities were engaged in the same kind of deep cave exploration that the ancient miners conducted.