By AP/KWMU
Springfield, MO – Researchers say they think the human and animal remains they've found in a cave near Springfield, Mo. could be the oldest ever unearthed in North America.
The Riverbluff Cave remained airtight and undiscovered before construction crews blasted its top off in September, 2001.
At the very least, researchers say Riverbluff is the oldest known Ice Age cave fossil site in Missouri.
Naturalist Matt Forir says tests on plant remains found in the cave put them at 830,000 years old. Bones of mammoths, horses, musk oxen and turtles were dated at 630,000 years old.
The next step, researchers and Greene County leaders say, is to install cameras and broadband access so that new discoveries in Riverbluff Cave can be shared with experts around the world.