The Ongoing Scientific Work

The archaeology of Mammoth Cave did not end with Patty Jo Watson’s foundational work in the 1960s and 1970s.

Research has continued, and the questions that the early work raised have been pursued through subsequent decades with expanding methodologies.

Radiocarbon dating of torch fragments has been refined, and the chronological picture of the mining period has become more detailed.

The analysis of cave sediment has provided additional information about the environmental conditions inside the cave over time and about the timing of specific episodes of human activity.

Paleoethnobotanical analysis — the study of plant remains in archaeological contexts — has extended the understanding of what the ancient miners were eating, what plants they were using for their tools and sandals, and what their broader subsistence economy looked like.