RIVERBLUFF CAVE
St. Clair County Courier
3 June 2005
Riverbluff Cave is discovered to be an Ice age time capsule
Many people across the country were watching replays of the tragedy at the World
Trade Center Towers, September 11, 2001. At the same time there were road
construction crews who were smashing into something of their own on that
disastrous day.
After hearing of the incidents in New York, crews were ordered to stop the
blasting.
Riverbluff Cave was discovered accidentally September 11, 2001, while the state
was blasting for a new road on the outskirts of Springfield. Faculty members
from Southwest Missouri State’s Department of Geology, Geography, and Resource
Planning, as well as local members of the Missouri Speleological Survey were
called to the site immediately to assess the situation. In order to protect the
pristine, untouched condition of the cave, the county covered the entrance and
created an air-tight locked door and passageway system to guard against
intruders.
The system was completed in April of 2002, and the cave went public later that
month. Riverbluff is approximately 2000 feet long from the main entrance to the
back room.
The heavily decorated main room occupies the first 200 feet of this – the back
part of the cave is much muddier, but contains most of the animal artifacts.
Width varies, and there are often side passage that poke out into the nether
regions of the cave.
There are three main ones, one which contains snake remains, one which is home
to the largest congregation of peccary tracks, and one newly explored passage.
Inside Riverbluff Cave is a plethora of findings which have been dated as
approximately Pleistocene in age, the time period that spanned from 1.8 million
to 11,000 years ago. Items include snake skeletons, fossilized turtle shells,
numerous small rodent tracks and skeletons, peccary a type of Ice Age pig
tracks, and numerous bear and large saber-tooth cat claw marks, which show that
this cave was used heavily for shelter before it closed so many years ago,
waiting to be opened and rediscovered by humans. The original opening is
believed to be closer to the now “back” of the cave, but was covered over by mud
and dirt thousands of years ago.
Also, all of the extensive tracks, fossils, and dung thus far are found sitting
in the very top layer of mud currently inside the cave. Little to no digging has
been done therefore, it can easily be assumed that many, many more remains lie
still buried in the mud. Researchers believe they may be able to find a complete
skeleton of a short-faced bear with enough patience.
New discoveries are made on each trip, but lead paleontologist Matt Forir says
he has no interest in rushing the excavation.
“This cave is to be preserved for many future generations of research for days”,
as Forir puts it, “when tools for research are more advanced and high-tech”. He
stated that he hopes when he passes the gauntlet on to the next researcher, 99.9
percent of the clay is still in the cave, untouched. Inside the cave 2, Forir
believes some of the most impressive evidence left behind is from the extinct
short-faced bears that once inhabited the cave. These bears could stand as much
as ten feet tall, and left their mark all over Riverbluff, in bear beds, bones,
and claw marks.
In addition to animal findings, Riverbluff is peppered with speleothems
stalactites, stalagmites, and columns adorn the main room. Cave bacon,
draperies, and flowstone decorate the walls, and ceilings full of soda straws
can be seen in many places throughout the cave. A small stream runs through a
section of the cave, separating the main room from the muddier back passages.
The difference between this cave, however, and many speleothem in commercial
caves is that everything in this cave has gone untouched for over ten 10,000
years.
Although Riverbluff will most likely never become a commercial cave like many
others in the region, the possibilities and educational opportunities available
to students and scientists alike makes the intellectual revenue available from
this cave far more valuable than any monetary amount.
Also, in the near future people will be able to see fossils from Riverbluff Cave
on display at the Natural History Museum of the Ozarks.
The museum will host findings from inside the cave, as well as a model of the
cave that visitors can tour.