Cave Carvings in Oklahoma

[RockChipper]

Hello, so had some of these photos located in a different spot on the forum but asked to have that one removed and decided to make a repost here with more info as well as photos with the metadata removed.

For a little history on how/why we found this cave.
I?m part of a small group of people doing some research on the caves in this particular area. We were working on trying to find an access point to a larger system inside this mountain that we believe all these smaller caves lead to, thus leading to us finding this one. (about 50 total so far) This location is roughly 100 sq miles with sparse population and no interior county or state maintained roads. ( all private property )

So, We found hundreds of letters & symbols in this cave about a month ago, been scratching my head ever since trying to come up with some interpretations that make sense. Thought I might post some of the ones Iv chalked or otherwise traced and see what others think, and get more opinions.

Some of the writings are severely weathered and some seem lightly weathered, depending exactly where in the cave they are located.
I haven?t been able to find a date in the cave with the most writing but found a date in a neighboring cave that had the same style/time frame of writing it had a date of Xmas 1910.
Also haven?t been able to make out any full names yet and the partials iv found don?t match any of the locals ( both alive and passed on).

Anyway they may or may not mean anything but someone else was definitely there at one time, so I figured I?d at least try and see what they were trying to leave behind and keep an open mind and see where it leads.
As we go back to do more in the area I?ll grab some more pictures and post them as well as any other info from locals and such that I may get.

At the Entrance

 

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[cyzak]

Welcome to Tnet very interesting photos you have there thanks for sharing.

 

[sdcfia]

Is this near the Cimarron River in the upper reaches of the Panhandle?

 

[islamoradamark]

Welcome to Treasurenet

 

[Coonhound]

How were they made? Were they etched (pecked) into the stone?

 

[RockChipper]

Thanks for the Welcomes,
@coonhound - As for how they were made, a lot of the words seem to be made by maybe pecking on a knife with a rock. Depth wise they’re about as deep as 1 - 2 Quarter edges. The symbols seem to be almost chiseled in and are around 1/4in in depth. We found a fire spot in the cave so there is even some writing & symbols written in charcoal/soot. The lighter & charcoal stuff seems to be in the more protected & dry parts of the cave, while the deeper stuff is in the wetter area closer to the Entrance.

@sdcfia this is in the Southeast part of the state

 

[Okie_Outlaw]

This is an awesome find! How recent do you think these drawings were made?

 

[RockChipper]

@Okie_Outlaw I honestly have no clue. If the date of 1910 is correct in a neighboring cave, then I?d figure a part of it was around that time. The other set which has the triangle, three sided box/cave symbols seem to be quite older but I would hate to even guess. I?m pretty confident that it is after any Spanish in the area, as the names iv made out so far are English, ( Jesse, Jack, We?-). The writing in soot I?d guess to be be around 50 - 100 years based on the amount of flowstone that has formed over parts of it. Although could be older if I knew whether or not there is any writing under the thickest portions.

Iv got a few more pics, that I?ll try to get up this weekend

 

[RockChipper]

Ok, so wasn't able to make it back to the site till today, didn't come up with much more to post but thought id share this symbol we found.


Seen a few places where they saw to follow the turtles head, tried that didn't come up with anything, so tried the tail and exactly 100ft away I found what looks like a turkey track carved in a tree. Still not discounting that it could be natural but after following the center toe, it lead down a high walled trail that went down into a creek. Didn't look around much once I got down there, figured id start there another day. Don't know if i'm on the right track or not, but it has been the "trail" that has made the most sense with the turtle carving so far.


Also found this stack of rocks with one in the center that points towards the cave with the carvings ( opposite hill from cave & turkey track tree)


Ill keep updating as/if I find more