To get a list of topographical maps that cover a particular area, drag the orange map icon to your point of interest then click the "Find Maps" button. You will be able to download your map on the next page. The 2025 NCKMS Symposium's map database currently contains 273,140 maps. The catalog was last updated on Friday, January 16, 2026.
Bristlecone Convention Center
Great Basin NP
The official event schedule for the 2025 NCKMS has now been updated. Please check our schedule page or download a PDF to your mobile device.
The National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI) is a nexus of research, stewardship, outreach and information for caves and karst while fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, created by the US Congress in 1998 in partnership with the National Park Service, State of New Mexico, and the City of Carlsbad.
NCKRI is located in Carlsbad, NM, and is a research center of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
The Spirit Cave mummy is the oldest human mummy found in North America. It was discovered in 1940 in Spirit Cave, 13 miles east of Fallon, Nevada by the husband-and-wife archaeological team of Sydney and Georgia Wheeler.
The Wheelers, working for the Nevada State Parks Commission, were surveying possible archaeological sites to prevent their loss due to guano mining. Upon entering Spirit Cave they discovered the remains of two people wrapped in tule matting. One set of remains, buried deeper than the other, had been partially mummified (the head and right shoulder). The Wheelers, with the assistance of local residents, recovered a total of sixty-seven artifacts from the cave.