Missouri cave with ancient Native American drawings sold

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Missouri cave with ancient Native American drawings sold

By JIM SALTER
September 14, 2021

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri cave containing Native American artwork from more than 1,000 years ago was sold at auction Tuesday, disappointing leaders of the Osage Nation who hoped to buy the land to “protect and preserve our most sacred site.”

A bidder agreed to pay $2.2 million to private owners for what’s known as “Picture Cave,” along with the 43 hilly acres that surround it near the town of Warrenton, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) west of St. Louis.

Bryan Laughlin, director of Selkirk Auctioneers & Appraisers, the St. Louis-based firm handling the auction, said the winning bidder declined to be named. A St. Louis family that’s owned the land since 1953 has mainly used it for hunting.

The cave was the site of sacred rituals and burying of the dead. It also has more than 290 prehistoric glyphs, or hieroglyphic symbols used to represent sounds or meanings, “making it the largest collection of indigenous people’s polychrome paintings in Missouri,” according to the auction website.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-native-americans-st-louis-missouri-caves-86e5cf59f0389475f27533b20ea7433f



This undated photo provided by Alan Cressler shows a Missouri cave featuring artwork from the Osage Nation dating more than 1,000 years was sold at auction on Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. The art inside "Picture Cave" shows humans, animals and mythical creatures. Experts who have studied the cave were concerned about the auction, but the director of the auction company said protections are in place to prohibit the new buyer from exploiting the cave, including a Missouri law that makes doing so a crime. (Alan Cressler via AP)

[secondwind]

1. Very sad.