Picture Cave and 43 Acres Auction, Selkirk Auctioneers

Auction | 09.14.2021

SELKIRK

AUCTIONEERS & APPRAISERS

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PICTURE CAVE

A TWO-CAVE SYSTEM OF NATIVE AMERICAN POLYCHROME PAINTINGS, TOGETHER WITH 43 ACRES OF SURROUNDING LAND Understood to be an ancient hallowed site for sacred rituals, astronomical studies, oral tradition, vision quests, and described as "the most important rock art site in North America". The two cave system boasts massive panels of over 290 prehistoric glyphs making it the largest collection of indigenous people's polychrome paintings in Missouri. Considered to be one the most significant North American archeological sites, Picture Cave's importance has been described by scholars as rivaling that of Cahokia and Chaco Canyon. The quantity and complexity of the wall images, like the renowned depiction of Red Horn, are unmatched compared to other prehistoric sites. For an extensive library of images and additional information related to Picture Cave, see the work of Professor Michael Fuller and the photography of Alan Cressler via the QR code below.

REAL ESTATE Picture Cave's subterranean system is nestled within 43 acres of undeveloped land in Warrenton, MO. Primarily used as hunting grounds by the landowner family since 1953, the rolling hills are covered by a forested landscape and home to a variety of animal species and a natural spring.

ESTIMATE $1,000,000 - $3,000,000 USD

BIOLOGY Picture Cave is host to a rare indigenous colony of Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) which are listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Several educational institutions and biologists have interest in the study and recovery of the species. To learn more, visit the National Wildlife Foundation.

LITERATURE Picture Cave- Unraveling the Mysteries of the Mississippian Cosmos Authors: Carol Diaz-Granados is Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at Washington University, where she has taught for over thirty years. She is also Adjunct Professor at Webster University.

James R. Duncan is an archaeologist and anthropologist who studies the Osage and Native American ethnography and is former Director of the Missouri State Museum. F. Kent Reilly III is Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Arts and Symbolism of Ancient America at Texas State University. Foreword by Patty Jo Watson. Photographer: Alan Cressler. Publisher: University of Texas Press; Illustrated edition (June 15, 2015). Hard back copy containing 360 pages | 8.5 x 11 | 269 black & white photos, 35 black & white illustrations, 26 color illustrations, 7 maps, 185 color photos.

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PICTURE CAVE Western Mississippian, present day Missouri, USA, 800-1100 CE

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Whether in-person or remote, Selkirk offers a number of ways to facilitate your bidding preferences.

All Prospective Bidders are subject to registration and pre-approval. Pre-approval is required whether bidding in-person, absentee, phone, or online. Please contact us regarding requirements for registration.

For more information and images, scan the QR code to reach our website, www.selkirkauctions.com/picturecave CONTACT For serious inquiries, please contact Executive Director, Bryan Laughlin, or Realtor and Auctioneer, Amelia Jeffers Email: bryan@selkirkauctions.com Phone: 314.696.9041 SELKIRK AUCTIONEERS & APPRAISERS 555 Washington Avenue, Suite 129, St. Louis, Missouri 63101

This auction is subject to a buyer’s premium in addition to the hammer price. Selkirk charges a 10% buyer’s premium for in-person, absentee and phone bids. For online bids placed on our website or through Invaluable an additional 1% premium will apply; and for online bids placed with LiveAuctioneers an additional 2% premium will apply.

Picture Cave is offered subject to prior sale.

Prospective bidders are welcome to submit a pre-auction offer. Pre-auction sale contracts shall be brokered by Dielmann Sotheby's International Realty, St. Louis.

Amelia Jeffers for Sophisticated Living Magazine

In a remote area of eastern Missouri, roughly 50 miles outside of the bustling urban center of Saint Louis, prairies meet the Ozark plateau, and a mystical plat of land richly packed with natural resources conceals a well-known subterranean masterpiece that has come to be known as Picture Cave. Housing what some scholars believe to be the greatest assemblage of indigenous American polychrome paintings ever discovered in the ancient cultural area known as Meso-America, the two-cave system was once an important ritual site for early Mississippian culture. Today it functions as a vital ecosystem for one of the densest populations of the endangered Indiana gray bat.

Over a millennia ago, native tribes, especially the Osage, roamed and controlled vast swaths of land from what is now known as the Ohio River Valley to Kansas, including the property where Picture Cave is situated. These early settlers utilized caves for various reasons, the most obvious being the opportunity for shelter and protection.

Caves were also mined for powerful organic resources, including gypsum crystals and epsomite, used in trade and for medicinal purposes. What sets Picture Cave apart from almost any other is the extraordinarily well-preserved and comprehensive collection of pictographs and iconography. The images' significance is comparable to that of major ancient cities like Cahokia and Chaco Canyon, which once existed directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis and in northwest New Mexico, respectively.

Since the research began in 1990, several selfless individuals, institutional grants, foundational funding, Osage members, and the landowners have made it possible to link documented facts with artistic interpretation.For archeologists, Picture Cave represents a vast spiritual convention in the recesses of the Earth that early regional civilizations used for sacred rituals, rites of passage, vision quests, and burials. Scholarly research dates the images to approximately 900-1100 CE. They are extensively documented in the 20-chapter fully-illustrated book, Picture Cave: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Mississippian Cosmos, published in 2015 by the University of Texas Press.

Several field experts, archeologists, Native American tribe members, and artists comprise the Picture Cave Interdisciplinary Project to accomplish this wonderful resource guide to understanding Picture Cave and its preservation. These experts include such renowned names as Patty Jo Watson, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, and Dr. Jan Simek from the University of Tennessee. As part of ongoing research in Picture Cave, Dr. Simek has compiled and compared geochemical analyses of prehistoric pigment, employed AMS radiocarbon dating and spatial order of iconography. The findings have been published several times in American Antiquity, the professional journal published by Cambridge University Press for the Society for American Archaeology.

On [September 14th, 2021], Selkirk Auctioneers & Appraisers will offer this invaluable piece of history at auction to the highest bidder on behalf of its current owners, the Busch Family of Missouri.The cave's breathtaking iconography rests at the pinnacle of land teeming with natural springs, rolling hills, and wonderful views that only accentuate the magnitude of one of America's greatest archaeological finds.

This article was originally published in Sophisticated Living Magazine, July/August 2021 issue.

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PICTURE CAVE