Ancient Native Americans briefly used the cave about 5000 years ago. Exactly who they were and what their relationship to the historic Shoshone and Bannock people is not known although their stylistic expression in their projectile points is common for this period throughout the Snake River Plain extending into the Northern Great Plains to the east and the Great Basin to the south. The cave’s occupants also painted numerous pictographs, mostly of “tally marks” which are common on the Snake River Plain north of the river itself as well as in the Salmon River Mountains to the north and west. The meaning of these tally mark expressions is not known although they suggest counting something.
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