This website explores Wilson Butte Cave, a National Register Archaeological Site. It examines the evidence left there by the earliest people in Idaho. Where did they come from? What were they doing here? How did they survive on the Snake River Plain, one of the harshest environments in North America?
Wilson Butte Cave-an air bubble in a petrified sea of lava.
Located on Idaho’s volcanic Snake River Plain, near present-day Twin Falls, Wilson Butte Cave protrudes like a
rocky bubble on a vast, level sea of ancient lava. If you wandered near it, like native people probably did in search of game, you would be drawn to it, wondering what was there.
You would be surprised at what you find. The rocky bubble has a hole in it. A portion of the east side of the rock bubble has collapsed, like a fallen ruin. Big black boulders frame an opening into a large, cool cavern that offers protection from the wind, rain and heat outside.
Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that native people found Wilson Butte Cave at least 10,000, and possibly 15,000 years ago, and camped there until recent times. It provides the first evidence of human occupation on the Snake River Plain. Wilson Butte Cave is also one of just a few sites which, taken together, provide the earliest evidence of human presence in North America.
