Time travelers? Old fluorescent light found in rarely visited part of Carlsbad Caverns

Ancient, unexpected things are often found in caves throughout the United States — from fossils to seemingly bottomless pits — but Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico reported this week that it located the last thing you’d expect in one of its most remote passages.

A fluorescent light fixture, with bulbs intact and a cord attached.

“This light was left in a rarely visited passage called Upper Talcum Passage. This section of cave is characterized by large gypsum blocks and deep pits,” the park said on posted on Facebook.

“In total, the light traveled 160 vertical ft (49 m) to reach a point where it could be easily handled back to the surface.”

That means one heck of an extension cord was needed to make the light work, not to mention the effort involved in changing a bulb.

Photos show a climber rappelling to collect the light, which was located as park staff was “cleaning” the popular cave. Carlsbad Caverns is currently closed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

So how did a fluorescent light fixture get in a rarely visited part of a prehistoric cave? Time travelers? Aliens?

None of the above. The park told McClatchy News it is surely part of a defunct cave lighting system that dates to the 1970s. A new light system was eventually installed, and the 50-year-old fixture was eventually forgotten, he said.

The section of cave it was found in is “seldom visited because it is undeveloped and very fragile,” he added.

That prompted some people to pose questions on social media about why a lighting system was supposedly there. And why was the light fixture so well preserved after 50 years?

“So, this is a place that is wired for lighting, then?” Bob Blaylock asked on Facebook. “Assuming otherwise, I wondered why such a light would have ever been taken into a place where I assumed there’d be nowhere to plug it in unless those who took it there also brought a portable generator.”

The National Park Service says evidence found in Carlsbad Cavern shows it has been visited by humans as far back as 14,000 years ago. The cavern is “one of over 300 limestone caves in a fossil reef laid down by an inland sea 250 to 280 million years ago,” the park says. Two sections of the park are on the National Register of Historic Places.

This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 7:22 AM with the headline "Time travelers? Old fluorescent light found in rarely visited part of Carlsbad Caverns."