From the analysis of diagnostic tools, it is clear that Native peoples first occupied the shelter around 4500 BC (Middle Archaic). The number and intensity of visits increased around 3000 BC (Late Archaic). Late Archaic Stemmed spear points were the main point/knife type used at that time.
Human activity continued at the site during the Terminal Archaic (1400-1000 BC), Early Woodland (1000-200 BC) and Middle Woodland (200 BC-500 AD) periods. There appears to have been a break in site use during the Late Woodland period (500-1000 AD), but Native peoples returned during the Mississippian period (1000-1750 AD).
It is tempting to suggest that rockshelters were just one among several sites used by local Native hunter-gatherers during their annual seasonal cycle. But it is by no means clear that groups occupied shelters only seasonally.
Native peoples lived at Miles Rockshelter at least in the fall and possibly into the winter. They used it for shelter as a hunting campsite, but they processed nuts at the site, too. There is also evidence that site residents collected river mussels - a late summer to fall activity.
Falls of the Ohio Region Native groups may have moved throughout this resource-rich area seasonally, but there is no reason to think that all shelters were abandoned during a particular season. Native peoples may have used shelters as camp sites or food procurement sites throughout the year. With numerous ecozones close to each other in the Falls Region, perhaps natural resources were so abundant that Native peoples were less seasonally mobile during the Late Archaic.