$2.2 million was the selling price for a cave containing 1,000-year-old Native American wall paintings and the 43 acres of land surrounding it in rural Warren County.
The auction for the land and …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous wesbite, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
$2.2 million was the selling price for a cave containing 1,000-year-old Native American wall paintings and the 43 acres of land surrounding it in rural Warren County.
The auction for the land and the cave, known as “Picture Cave,” closed on Sept. 14 and was officiated by Selkirk Auctioneers and Appraisers in St. Louis. Selkirk did not disclose the name of the buyer, who will pay over $51,000 per acre for the land and the historical treasure it contains.
The family that previously owned the land since the 1950s had used it primarily for hunting, and had made efforts to prevent trespassers from entering the area, according to Selkirk and academic researchers who have studied the cave. Those efforts include being nondescript about the exact location of the cave site.
While the cave has at times been either an item of curiosity or a hidden treasure to the modern residents of the area, researchers who have studied the artwork say the cave was once the site of sacred rituals and burials for the native people who once lived here.
In a statement last week issued to the Associated Press, leaders of the Osage Indian Nation said they had unsuccessfully sought to purchase the land, and were heartbroken to not be able to buy back one of their sacred sites. Although currently rooted in Oklahoma, Osage people lived in parts of Missouri and Illinois for 1,300 years, according to the statement.
The Associated Press quotes Bryan Laughlin, director of the Selkirk auction house, as stating that potential buyers for the cave were vetted to seek out those with an interest in respecting and preserving the cave site. Selkirk has also emphasized that Missouri law expressly forbids disturbing, vandalizing or damaging human burial sites. Those who violate that statute could be charged with a felony.
The same section of Missouri law also prohibits the appropriation, selling, or otherwise profiting from cultural items associated with burial sites.
Protecting the cave site from theft or appropriation has been a real concern for the previous owners and researchers over the decades. In a 2015 book about the cave’s history, St. Louis-area archaeologists said the cave had been damaged by more than 150 years of graffiti and theft – people had chiseled artwork off the cave walls in order to take it from the site.
