180 YEARBOOK, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. II. 



burned earth, blackened rocks and other well recognizable evidences of 

 a fireplace. 



One of these caves was unique and interesting. It contained two 

 chambers, with an opening from the outside into each. Evidently, 

 originally the two chambers had been separated by a thin wall of lava, 

 but the inhabitants had improved their dwelling by cutting through this 

 wall a square hole, about two feet in dimensions. This joined the two 

 chambers and made a very commodious dwelling place. As a further 

 improvement on nature, they utilized one of the outer openings as a door 

 and the other as a chimney, here again assisting nature by cutting away 

 a few inches of the side wall immediately below the opening, so as to 

 place the fire directly under it. The sides of the cave at this point were 

 heavily blackened and there was every evidence of this chimney having 

 been used to a very considerable extent. In figure 107 the writer is 

 shown examining the smoke blackened sides of the chimney opening. 



In some of these caves were found fragments of mullers and 

 metates, potsherds of several different types and other evidences serv- 

 ing to tie up this site with the general run of cliff' dweller or pueblo 

 ruins in this locality, which is very significant when we reflect that the 

 cliff' ruins of Walnut Canyon, now preserved as a National Monument, 

 are located only about four miles to the south and that there is a large 

 pueblo ruin on a mesa only about twenty-five miles farther to the north 

 than Cave Hill. Having no series of sherds and implements from either 

 of these sites at hand for comparison, it is impossible to state whether 

 the remains here resemble more nearly those of the cliff ruins or those 

 of the pueblo. 



It seems quite likely, from all evidence available, that these caves 

 were not permanent habitations. They were neither spacious enough 

 for all year round dwellings, nor were they sufficiently well defended 

 to be practical for such use. It is more likely that the people of either 

 the cliff' dwellings or of the pueblo, may have used them as temporary 

 shelters while hunting or that they may have had fields nearby and may 

 have used these caves as shelters while tending these fields, rather than 

 to make the long journey home daily. 



Report has it that other similar volcanic cones in this same locality 

 have similar caves. It is to be hoped that someone will soon be able to 

 systematically excavate and study this entire cave problem in this local- 

 ity and collect comparative data from nearby cliff ruins and pueblos 



