FOWKB] ARCHEOLOGICAL IlSrVESTIGATIONS 127 



historic stone wall whose outer side and top had been entirely con- 

 cealed by debris. On the inner side the upper portion was A^sible, 

 owing to the fact that the owner had gathered a quantity of loose 

 stones to construct a wall farther down the slope. Previous to this 

 the ancient wall was entirely covered by the detritus, and even after 

 this partial exposure its true nature was not suspected. It was about 

 6 feet high, built up of rocks of various sizes and shapes loosely fitted 

 together, earth from the outside surface being used to level up in 

 places where the stones would not bind properly. The largest rock 

 in the top layer weighed about 800 pounds. 



The horizontal distance between the top of the wall as it was when 

 cleared off and the corresponding portion of the cave roof was 4 

 feet; to the roof directly above it, about 2 feet. Apparently it had 

 at one time entirely closed the entrance ; at the western end where it 

 abutted against the solid rock the upper portion was firmly consoli- 

 dated by travertine. Directly above it, nearly 2 feet higher, a slab 

 and some small irregular fragments were securely attached to the side 

 and roof by the same agency. A crevice in the bedrock just at the 

 end of the artificial wall contained several wagonloads of small rocks 

 which had been thrown into it. These also were united into a solid 

 mass by the travertine, all of which had been deposited by water 

 flowing through the crevice. It does not follow that the wall was ever 

 higher toward the opposite end than at this time. In the centuries 

 that have elapsed since it was put up, the roof at the front of the cave, 

 being rather thin-bedded, may have disintegrated. It was not possible 

 to uncover the wall in shape for illustrating; portions of it continu- 

 ally crumbled as the looser material piled against it w^as removed. 



From the wall inward the foreign material piled against the west 

 side of the cave was composed almost entirely of small rocks, with 

 scarcely any earth, and so compactly bound with travertine and 

 stalagmite as to resist all attempts to remove it by ordinary means. 

 On the east side — the left as the cave is entered — there was a great 

 variation in the size of the stones ; they were inteiinixed with much 

 loose dry earth, and there was scarcely any " drip-formation " in the 

 mass. The removal of all this disclosed a projection of solid rock 

 forming a shelf from 8 to 12 feet wide, whose top was about 2 feet 

 higher than the bottom of our trench. About 20 feet from the ancient 

 wall the trench reached the original bottom of the cave as the latter 

 was left by the stream to which its origin was due. This was the 

 tough red or yellow clay, filled with water- worn stones such as appear 

 in all gullies or ravines in this region. It contained a small quantity 

 of stalagmitic material here and there and gradually rose until at 20 

 feet farther, or 40 feet from the old wall, it terminated against solid 

 bedrock, reaching across the cave, the entire Avidth of Avhich at this 

 point was 26 feet. The shelf on the left belonged to the same stratum. 



