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

The mining continued, probably, after his death.

Other miners entered the same passages, worked the same walls, returned to the surface with their gourd bowls full of mineral crust.

The cave did not become taboo because of what happened on the ledge.

Or if it did, only briefly — the pattern of mining resumed and continued for generations.

And then it stopped.

Around 200 BCE, the evidence for active mining ends.

The cave was left.