Images of Russell Cave National Monument – Northern Alabama, taken in September 2022.

Established as a national monument by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, Russell Cave National Monument protects the site of over 10,000 years of human habitation represented by the Paleo Culture (10,000 to 14,500 years ago); the Archaic Culture (3,200 to 11,450 years ago); the Woodland Culture (1,000 to 3,200 years ago); the Mississippian Culture (500 to 1,000 years ago) and Modern Cultures (present to 500 years ago). Artifacts were collected in excavations which ran from 1953 to 1962 and went to a depth of forty-two feet below the cave floor, allowing archeologists to map the breath of human habitation in the cave and surrounding area.