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Discovering Mammoth Cave's Oceanic Past

Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky contains not only unique life present today, but also remains of unique life that existed millions of years ago.

The jaws, teeth, and gills of Glikmanius careforum embedded in the cave ceiling were discovered by Cave Research Foundation explorers during a mapping project, Mammoth Cave National Park/NPS

Mammoth Cave is a storehouse of fossils and a cave full of sharks – shark fossils, that is. And Traveler contributing writer Kim Kobersmith had the opportunity to join paleontologist John-Paul Hodnett on a tour of an area within the cave “swimming” in shark fossils.

The first five years of the national park’s Paleontological Resource Inventory has revealed a treasure trove of fossils from more than 70 species of shark in 25 different locations in the 400+ mile-long cave, including one of the largest sharks to have ever lived and six species that are completely new to science.

You can read more about Mammoth Cave's fossils by heading over to this page.

Mammoth Cave National Park

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