THE REMAINS OF CITIES OF THE STONE AGE. 



over the graves of another. Where habitations have 

 stood, the ground is in some places, to the depth of 

 three feet, a black mass saturated with carbonaceous 

 matter, and full of bones of wild animals, charcoal, 

 pottery, and remains of implements of stone or bone. 

 Further, in such places the black soil is laminated, as 

 if deposited in successive layers on the more depressed 

 parts of the surface. The length of time during 

 which the site was occupied is also indicated by the 

 very different states of preservation of the bones and 

 bone implements ; some of those in the deeper parts 



Fig. 18. HEAD FROM AN EARTHEN POT. 



of the deposit being apparently much older than those 

 near the surface. Similar testimony is afforded by the 

 great quantity and various patterns of the pottery, as 

 well as by the abundance of the remains of animals 

 used as food throughout the area above mentioned. 

 All these indications point to a long residence of the 

 aborigines on this spot, while the almost entire 

 absence of articles of European manufacture in the 

 undisturbed portions of the ground, implies a date 

 coeval with the discovery of the country. The few 



