330 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



sort of sarcophagus built of the jaws and ribs of whales, and 

 around them were a large number of implements, especially 

 of stone knives. This was covered in turn by a layer, six 

 inches or less in thickness, of refuse material, the remains of 

 repasts on marine animals, shell-fish, fish, and echini. Scat- 

 tered irregularly over this were broken and worn implements 

 of quite a different character from those found with the dead ; 

 and the whole indicated that this was only a resting-place 

 of parties who used it temporarily while waiting an oppor- 

 tunity to cross the surf to the adjacent island. It was down 

 to this lower stratum that the labors of the previous season 

 had extended, but without disturbing it. 



A stratum of this latter portion was covered by a bed of 

 shingle, evidently introduced by water, and supposed to be 

 the actual bottom of the deposit. Mr. Dall is of the opinion 

 that the skeletons found here are the oldest yet discovered 

 in the Aleutian region, although not approaching in antiq- 

 uity those discovered on Table Mountain or the Neander- 

 thal. He thinks the cave was first used as a burial-place, the 

 mould over the three skeletons having accumulated by the 

 decay of animal matter and of rubbish ; and that the debris 

 from the repasts of occasional visitors had been gathering for 

 a great many years. An unusually high tide or storm prob- 

 ably brought in the shingle from the adjacent sea-beach, and 

 after this the cave w T as again used as a deposit for the dead. 

 Nothing was discovered indicating in any way that the place 

 had been used or visited by the white races. 



The total number of crania obtained by Mr. Dall amounted 

 to thirty-six, besides many hundred implements of bone, ivo- 

 ry, and stone, and many carvings of wood and other objects, 

 presenting evidence of the existence of large and flourishing 

 communities numbering thousands of inhabitants where now 

 none, or only remnants of population, exist. 



Underneath the old villages were found still more ancient 

 kitchen heaps of echini, fish-bones, and edible shell-fish, many 

 feet in thickness, the age and time taken in forming them scarce- 

 ly to be approximated or counted even in centuries. Only 

 in the upper strata were seen the indications of progress in 

 hunting and fishing, afterward so notable that even the sperm- 

 whale succumbed to the attacks of these hardy canoe-men. 

 Their progenitors w T ere content to pick echini from the shore 



