FOWKE] ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATTOlSrS 37 



during considerable periods the caA^e was unoccupied, or at most used 

 only as a temporary refuge. The intermittent character of occupancy 

 is also shown by the distinct segregation of numerous successive 

 layers of kitchen refuse. 



About 10 feet within the point where a vertical line from the front 

 edge of the roof would meet the floor the skeleton of a very young 

 infant was found above and in contact with two thick angular blocks 

 of limestone weighing 300 to 400 pounds. These rested on the red 

 clay and had fallen from the roof. The thickness of earth above 

 the bones was about 3 feet. 



Ten feet farther in, on the clay floor, under almost exactly 5 feet 

 of undisturbed material, were five flat stones. Three were of sand- 

 stone, the largest about 25 pounds in weight, such as can be found 

 in place only on top of the hill. They were carefully arranged for 

 use as a fire bed; on and around them were potsherds, flint chips, 

 animal and bird bones, and a bone awl. This was the greatest 

 depth at which artificial objects were found ; and their position shows 

 them to be as ancient as anything discovered. 



At 25 feet in an interesting find was made. Eighteen inches 

 below the surface of the floor, in a mass 

 of mingled charcoal, ashes, mussel shells, 

 flint chips, and other aboriginal refuse, 

 was a small piece of glass, apparently part 

 of a bottle, shown in figure 5. Abo^e 

 it and extending for several feet on every 

 side was an unbroken stratum of root dust 

 from 2 to 4 inches thick. Above this, in Fig. 5.— Fragment of glass bot- 

 turn, were several thin, undisturbed layers "^ ''""^ ^""* ^'"^^ ^"^"• 

 of camp refuse, about 6 inches in all, and then 6 inches of the loose, 

 incoherent surface earth. This discovery is susceptible of two inter- 

 pretations. One is that between the date when Indians could procure 

 articles from the whites and the date at which they abandoned this fire- 

 place there was time for the accumulation of the given thickness of dis- 

 integrated material from the roof, the cave, or at least this part of it, 

 not being used meanwhile for a habitation; then for the accumula- 

 tion of several distinct layers of camp refuse; and finally for the 

 depositing of the cave earth over it all. This hypothesis is un- 

 reasonable. While the rate of formation of either roof dust or 

 stalagmite is extremely variable, so that it is, not safe to predicate 

 a definite antiquity for objects found beneath even a considerable 

 thickness of either, at the same time the small area involved 

 precludes the idea that a number of occupants sufficient to account 

 for the volume of debris could have lived here unless we allow a 



