The earliest residents of Russell Cave, near present Bridgeport, Alabama, evidently subsisted by hunting and gathering.

Chipped flint points and charcoal from campfires provide evidence that occupation of Russell Cave began nearly nine thousand years ago by Native Americans of the Archaic period.

The charcoal remains of the first fires in the cavern date to between 6550 and 6145 BCE based on radiocarbon dating.

As they maintained their existence as hunter-gatherers, it is likely that the cave was only occupied during the autumn and winter seasons.