The Mysteries of Mummy Cave

9000-year-old history. 7000-year-old artifacts. 1500-year-old mummies. Is this Ancient Egypt? It is not, but rather Cody, Wyoming. More accurately, Mummy Cave is a nearly enclosed and long-excavated alcove that was full of priceless discoveries, just to the east of Yellowstone National Park and just west of Cody.

The excavation was divided into almost 40 layers, each representing a certain period of time in the cave’s history. Items found include, but are not limited to, deer and mountain sheep bones, sharpened heads of projectile weapons, fire pits, clothing, and baskets. Many means were used to date the discoveries, including known periods for certain types of projectile tips and carbon dating.

The most valuable discovery in Mummy Cave was mummified remains (though probably not in the way you’re thinking) buried under a cairn of rocks, found in layer 36. Nicknamed “Mummy Joe” at the time of the excavations in the 1960s, the individual was covered by a mountain sheep blanket or robe and had a feather and fur ornament near the left ear. The body was well-preserved (ie mummified) under arid conditions. Under the US federal Native Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the individual is to be given to local Native American groups for reburial, though to the best of our knowledge the body continues to reside in climate-controlled storage in the Buffalo Bill Center for the West in Cody, Wyoming, apparently having not been requested by the local tribes.

What we can guess about the people who lived in the cave is that they inhabited the cave off-and-on for 9000 years, they hunted big game as a main food source, and the man who was found covered by rocks in the cave probably had a high social status, based off his clothes and the small rock monument found.

Want to check the alcove out? It’s just off US highway routes 14/16/20. All objects have been removed, but knowing you are standing where the ancients once stood is always neat.

Dillon grew up near Jackson Hole, being taken by his family to nearby national parks so often he took it for granted. It took the rigors of life to teach him how good he had it, and he now spends as much time in the mountains as possible.

Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen on Unsplash