ST. LOUIS – In a remote area of eastern Missouri, roughly 50 miles outside of the bustling urban center of Saint Louis, the prairies meet the Ozark plateau, and a mystical plat of land richly packed with natural resources conceals a well-known subterranean masterpiece that has come to be known as Picture Cave. Housing what some scholars believe to be the greatest assemblage of indigenous American polychrome paintings ever discovered in the ancient cultural area known as Mesoamerica, the two-cave system was once an important ritual site for early Mississippian culture. Today it functions as a vital ecosystem for one of the densest populations of the endangered Indiana gray bat. With an eye on the important future stewardship of this land and the caves nestled within it, Picture Cave will be auctioned on September 14, 2021, with absentee and Internet live bidding available through LiveAuctioneers.