English: Western Kentucky's Mammoth Cave is the longest known cave on Earth, with 426 mapped miles as of March 2024. Occasionally, prehistoric human bodies are found in the cave.

During the 1930s, cave guides discovered the desiccated corpse of an American Indian that had been crushed under a limestone block. This was in the southeastern stretches of Main Cave, the principal trunk passage in the Mammoth Cave Ridge part of the system. It had been known that prehistoric Indians entered & used Mammoth Cave - the oldest known evidence dates to about 2170 B.C. Indian artifacts have been found as far as 12 miles in. Their known activities included the collection of gypsum crystals and "mining" of chert nodules from the walls of the historic section of Mamoth Cave.

In the case of this Indian mummy, nicknamed “Lost John”, he had been digging for gypsum under a moderately heavy piece of limestone breakdown. The block of rock shifted and trapped him. Examination of the in-situ corpse revealed that he had time to get his head and arm out from under the rock, but not the rest of him. Autopsy of the body provided some diet information - hickory nuts and sunflower seeds were in the stomach. Intestinal tissue has been isotopically dated to about 15 B.C. Cloth associated with the body has been dated to about 445 B.C.

Seen here is the original limestone block that killed this early human. It can be viewed on the “Violet City Tour” along the eastern side of the Main Cave, on a slab-covered ledge. Some metal straps are wrapped around it - these were used to lift the rock during recovery of the mummy.

“Lost John” was on long-term public display at the discovery site & then at Giant's Coffin. A couple other mummies found much nearer to the mouth of the cave were discovered in the 1800s and reburied somewhere in Houchins Narrows. Indian mummies from other Kentucky caves were sometimes put on display at Mammoth Cave, including near the entrance to Gothic Avenue. Stories about these mummies usually gave the incorrect impression that they, too, were found in Mammoth Cave. Most of them were not found here.

Sadly, this interesting part of Mammoth Cave history is now inaccessible. The mummy was reburied in the 1970s at a spot near the discovery site. The exact site is known only to the Mammoth Cave superintendent (& a few other people). An old postcard photo of the mummy is in "Main Cave" photo album, so that everyone can better appreciate a small, but fascinating, part of American history.

The rocks here are part of the Ste. Genevieve Limestone (Middle Mississippian).

Locality: Mummy Ledge, Main Cave, Mammoth Cave Ridge, Mammoth Cave National Park, western Kentucky, USA

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(accessed with park permission)