Cave People

From left, Greene County Commissioner Roseann Bentley, David Harrison, Barb Houser and Missouri Institute of Natural Science Executive Director and Greene County environmental specialist Matt Forir turn dirt for Riverbluff Cave’s field house annex during a June 12 ceremony. The 2,500-square-foot building will provide space for groups studying the cave and its ice-age-era fossils, as well as Riverbluff Cave specimens and the Ken Thomson Memorial Karst Collection, according to a news release. The $195,000 project is funded through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant.

Riverbluff, discovered in 2001, is the oldest fossil cave in North America, with specimens dating back as far as 1.1 million years. Because of its delicate nature, the cave is not open to the public, although visitors may view items collected from it and take virtual tours in the cave’s field house, built in 2005.