This is not a failure of archaeology.

It is a recognition of what archaeology can and cannot recover from the physical record.

The physical record can tell you what people did.

It is much harder to tell you why.

The Miner’s Place In The Larger Story

The man who died on the ledge 2.5 miles inside Mammoth Cave — who has been called Lost John, though his actual name is not and cannot be known — was not the protagonist of the larger story of Mammoth Cave’s prehistoric human history.

He was one participant in a story that extended across thousands of years and involved hundreds or thousands of individuals.