11. CAVE EXPLORATIONS IN OTHER STATES 



INTRODUCTION 



Certain conditions are to be taken into account in deciding whether 

 a cave afforded a desirable permanent shelter to primitive man. It 

 should be accessible; the floor should be dry, at least fairly level, 

 and sufficiently free from large rocks to allow the inmates to move 

 about freely; the entrance should be large enough to permit free 

 passage and to light the interior to a distance that would insure 

 protection from the elements. Temporary shelters or camping places 

 might be deficient in some of these particulars and still be resorted 

 to frequently ; but if there were opportunity for choice, a man with 

 intelligence to select a cave in wdiich to live continually would, it is 

 fair to assume, look for one possessing such features. 



If such conditions, once established, were free from the mutations 

 of time, the explorer would have but little difficulty in deciding upon 

 a suitable site for his labors. But limestone, more than any other 

 solid rock, is subject to constant erosion, crumbling, and falling; 

 while the soil and loose fragments resulting from such action move 

 downward year by year over the slopes and into any cavities where 

 they can find their way. In the course of centuries the entire aspect 

 of a cave may be so altered as to bear no resemblance whatever to its 

 original aj^pearance. Consequent!}" a careful study must be made 

 of the immediate surroundings, in order to determine what topo- 

 graphical changes may have occurred since the earliest time within 

 which it is probable that man may have existed in that locality. 

 Should the floor, at present, be of solid rock ; or covered with only a 

 slight layer of earth; or have a stream flowing over it; or show by 

 marks upon the walls that it is subject to inundation either from 

 adjacent streams or by surface water which finds its way in through 

 sink holes; or be in such situation as to make it apparent that the 

 original bottom was thus flooded in comparatively modern times, 

 even though such may not now be the case — in any such event exca- 

 vation would be labor wasted. On the other hand, all the necessary 

 requirements for a convenient residence may now be present, and yet 

 result from causes which have begun to operate within the historic 

 period. In other words, there are very few cases in which the present 

 appearance of a cave is to be deemed a certain or even an approximate 

 indication of its actual state a few thousand years ago. There is 



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