ETHNOLOGY. 367 



THE AGE OF STOXE, AlfD THE TROGLODYTES OF BRECKINRIDGE COUNTY, 



KENTUCKY. 



By R. S. Eobertsox, op Fort WxVynEj Ind, 



The remains of the stone-age are abundant on both sides of the Ohio 

 Itiver, proving that its shores were occupied by a very large population 

 long anterior to tlie advent of the whites. 



My attention having been attracted to reports of human remains found 

 in a cavern or rock-shelter near Hardinsburgh, Ky., I visited the locality 

 May 12, 1874, but was not early enough to forestall the vandalism nearh' 

 always displayed when such remains are discovered, and by which raanj- 

 valuable relics are destroyed, or scattered and lost. Nearly everything 

 of value to the ethnologist had been dug out and carelessly destroyed, 

 and out of thirty or more human skeletons of all sizes, from infants to 

 adults, exhumed, I was informed that only one skull had been preserved, 

 but as that is in the possession of Prof. IST. S. Shaler, State geologist of 

 Kentucky, we may expect to hear something of its characteristics. 



Hardinsburgh, the county-seat of Breckinridge County, is eleven miles 

 southeast of Cloverport, and in a hilly, broken country. About a mile 

 and a half northeast of the town is a range of high hills, at the base of 

 which runs Hardin's Creek, now nearly dry. These hills are capped by 

 high limestone ledges, cut through in past ages by some powerful erosive 

 agency, leaving the general course of the cliffs on an east and west line, 

 but cut by lateral fissures and valleys. The rock has been so eroded as 

 to leave overhanging shelters at several points, some of which are of 

 considerable size. One, particularly, seems to have been occupied by 

 man for a long period, and when it ceased to be used as a habitation, 

 became the sepulchre of the remnant of its occupants, who were probably 

 massacred and left in the ashes of their home, on the final extinction 

 of their tribe. The cavern is open toward the south, the overhanging 

 roof protecting the space below from any exposure to the elements from 

 above, while immense masses of fallen rock make a wall from ten to twelve 

 feet high, directly in front, between which and the rear wall of the cav- 

 ern the deposit containing human remains was found. This deposit 

 consists almost entirely of wood-ashes, so dry that clouds of dust arose 

 while working in them, and we sank nearly to the knees at every step. 

 The deposit is about eight by fifteen feet superficial measure, and was 

 about seven feet in depth. In it, without order, were found thirty 

 or more human skeletons, nearly all with a flat stone laid upon their 

 heads. There were infants and adults promiscuously buried at various 

 depths in the ashes, and at the bottom, on a layer of broken stones, some 

 charred human remains were found. The bones had been thrown out 

 and broken, so that none remained worthy of preservation : but fiom a 

 description of the skulls found, I should think they were of a marked 

 dolicho-cephalic type, with flat, receding foreheads. 



