76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 76 



were followed as far as they could be, and found to contain quantities 

 of refuse. There was also a considerable amount of fine dark earth 

 in the burrows, showing they have another outlet somewhere. Occa- 

 sionally a mass thrown out by a shovel or a trowel contained more 

 refuse than ashes. There was nearly everything which was found 

 elsewhere in the cave, and almost every shovelful contained some- 

 thing worth preserving. 



Near the rear of the cave erosion of the lower part of the eastern 

 wall formed a rudely triangular recess or cavity 30 feet long by 7 

 feet deep at the widest part. The upper margin of this was below 

 the surface of the ashes, so that its existence was not suspected until 

 these had been removed from in front of it. The roof was 5 feet 

 above the rock bottom, the entire space being filled with loose ma- 

 terial. The upper 2 feet of this was clean ashes in which were great 

 quantities of refuse, so much that it had all the appearance of a 

 general dumping ground. Below this depth, patches of fine dark 

 earth were mingled with the ashes and refuse. The latter continually 

 decreased in quantity, until at a foot above the bottom they ceased 

 altogether, the lower portion of the deposit consisting of nothing but 

 earth. The pure ashes were slightly damp; and the moisture in- 

 creased with the depth until at a foot above the bottom the earth was 

 saturated and could no longer be removed with tools. 



The refuse in the ashes consisted of animal bones, entire or in 

 fragments; broken flints and pottery; mussel and snail shells; and 

 numerous wrought objects. These continued, though in smaller 

 amount, where the ashes were mingled with earth, though bones and 

 shells were soft owing to the moisture, and could be removed only 

 in fragments. Among them were the flint shown at a in plate 28, 

 and the hematite ax, at «, plate 29. The latter was at the lowest 

 level to which the ashes extended; perhaps its weight caused it to 

 settle below the place at which it originally lay. 



Near the middle of this chamber, 2 feet from the rear wall, lying 

 at the bottom of the mixed ashes and earth, were 12 entire and 3 

 broken leaf-shaped blades; they were not closely piled, or arranged 

 in any order, but seem to have been hastily or carelessly laid or 

 thrown on a small space. Another was found a foot away. They are 

 shown in plate 25. 



Here and there among the refuse were found the upper jaw, with 

 left orbit, of a young person; a fragment of an occiput, perhaps 

 belonging with the above though not lying near it ; fragments of the 

 skull of a young child ; half of an ulna of a child probably 12 years 

 old; a small fragment of the lower jaw of an adult with one molar 

 remaining in it, which has been burned until black. These fragments 

 were all in such position and condition as to show they were not 

 carried in by animals ; were not disinterred from graves and placed 



