The National Park Service and researchers from East Tennessee State University will start excavating an unexplored cave located in Black Hills of South Dakota, believing that the cave will reveal the rich history of region.
The team led by the university professor Jim Mead will begin the work at the mouth of the untouched and nearly 11,000-year old South Dakota cave. The cave was discovered back in 2004, but it was not reported to restrain amateur cave enthusiasts from exploring and disturbing the site.
The team plans to unravel bags of sediment and animal bones, analyzing the kind of animals they are that lived over the millennia. The team has already discovered remains of pine marten, pika, and an extinct modern-day peccary relative called platygonus, according to Science Recorder.
In addition, researchers will also examine fossils from the popular Mammoth Site, which is considered as a well-preserved burial ground of prehistoric animals. The Mammoth Site was discovered in 1970s in the nearby Hot Springs. Mead’s team will also try to figure out how climate in Black Hills has evolved over time.
Mead said that focusing on the Mammoth Site is important because it will lead to the understanding of the Ice Age environment and how it changed over time, as per American Live Wire report.
Wind Cave National Park scientist Rod Horrocks suggests that several passages in Persistence Cave connect the unexplored cave to Wind Cave. However, layers of sediment became hindrance to access the yet to be explored cave, causing a failed access for the people.
Mead and the team believe that the cave is one big warehouse of information, revealing at least 100,000 bones of ancient animals.