material could not have been deposited previous to about 
2000 B.C. This point in time is established by the upper 
limit of a thin dust layer upon which the plant-bearing 
deposits rest. The upper limit has been tentatively dated 
by Mr. Dick as 500 to 1000 A.D. These latter dates are 
based upon pottery fragments from the upper 18 inches 
of the Bat Cave deposit. 
Additional evidence as to the age of this deposit is 
also available. Vegetal remains from the Bat Cave de- 
posit were sent by Professor P. C. Mangelsdorf to the 
Institute for Nuclear Studies at the University of Chi- 
cago where radio carbon dates were assigned. These vary 
from 1752 + 250 for stratum VI to 2862 + 250 for stra- 
tum II. The material from stratum I was insufficient to 
obtain data. By extrapolation, however, it would appear 
to be 8000 to 8500 years. 
Thus, stratum II, for which the earliest date was ob- 
tained, may contain material deposited as early as 1162 
B.C. or as recently as 662 B.C. Should the earlier ma- 
terial (stratum I) be 8500 years old, the deposit could 
have been started about 1550 B.C. This date agrees 
satisfactorily with the geological date furnished by Dr. 
Ernst Antevs. 
SUMMARY 
1. Cultivated squash (Cucurbita Pepo) is present through- 
out the Bat Cave deposit. 
2. Cultivated beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are found only 
from stratum III upward, and then only in small 
quantities. 
3. Wild vegetal remains indicate semixerophytic vege- 
tation in the past similar to the existing vegetation 
near Bat Cave. 
4. Remains of plants requiring a permanent body of 
shallow water (Z'ypha latifolia, Scirpus Olneyi and 
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