The styles of artifacts, especially the dominance of Avonlea arrow points, suggest that the site was used by people technologically affiliated with the Northern Great Plains and were probably not the direct ancestors of the Northern Shoshone who originated to the south in the Great Basin. This is further supported by the presence of stone pipe bowls similar to ones recovered in the Great Plains. The presence of Great Plains groups on the Snake River Plain is also documented at other sites such as Aviator’s Cave illustrating the importance of the Plain as a corridor connecting the Northern Plains with the Great Basin to the south and the Columbia Plateau to the north and west. This travel corridor continued to be important into historic times as documented by the Oregon and California trails which followed these ancient Native American routes. The people who left the artifacts behind in the Caves had ranged widely as documented by the obsidian used in the artifacts.
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