FOWKE] AECHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 59 



inches. On the opposite side from the cavern, in the anjxle formed 

 by the abrupt turn of the river, is another villao:e site. A ditch, 

 with an interior embanlmient about 6 feet hio^h, formerly extended 

 in a curved line across the point. This fortification was about 600 

 feet loner, coming to the river bank at either end. In the part thus 

 protected were many low, small mounds placed close together but 

 quite irregularly. These were probably house mounds. No trace 

 of any of this artificial work is now apparent except that a difference 

 in color may be seen here and there when the soil is freshly turned, 

 all the earthworks having been plowed and dragged level as in- 

 terfering with cultivation. A great amount of broken pottery, flint 

 implements, and fragments of animal bones has been uncovered 

 here. In fact, the field is known locally as " the place where the 

 Indians made their pottery." This site seems to have been occupied 

 within historic times; after an unusual freshet some years ago, 

 many " round musket-balls, such as belonged to the old-fashioned 

 muzzle loaders " — " hundreds," or " two gallons," of them is the 

 usual version — were picked up where the loose soil had washed off. 

 There is a local tradition, long antedating the discovery of the 

 bullets, that a " battle " was fought here between the French and 

 the Indians. 



On the hill over the cave are three cairns, but they have been so 

 searched through that scarcely a stone remains in its proper place. 

 There is also the site of a flint-working industry, a space 40 or 50 feet 

 across being strewn with spalls, flakes, and chips. 



When, in addition to the sustenance provided by deer and other 

 large game, there is taken into consideration the great numbers of 

 wild fowls which frequented the rugged hills and numerous streams ; 

 the multitude of small mammals which found security in the myriad 

 cavities and crevices in the cliffs; the abundant food supply in the 

 river ; and the further fact that so many mortars and pestles meant 

 the utilization of nuts and the cultivation of corn and no doubt of other 

 foodstuffs as well ; it is apparent that the problem of mere subsist- 

 ence was one with which the natives had but little need to concern 

 themselves. That full recognition was accorded to these advantages 

 is amply attested by the great quantity of flints found everywhere in 

 the vicinity, the numerous workshops on the hills and in the bottoms 

 where the ground is thickly strewn with debris in every stage from 

 the intact nodule or block to .the finished implement, and the amount 

 of refuse not only in this cavern, but in the Saltpeter Cave in the 

 same bluff and in the Freeman or Eamsey Cave 3 miles down the 

 river on the opposite side. Miller's Cave, however, possesses an addi- 

 tional advantage, one probably not to be found elsewhere. This is 

 the absolute security of its inmates from the attack of an enemy. 

 The mouth of the cave is in the face of a perpendicular bluff, the 



