73 



natives forced to seek shelter from storms until the surf subsided, so ihat 

 they might launch their bidarkas from the stony beach beyond. '^Fhe 

 material, as a whole, is that of a temporary camp of traveling hunters 

 rather than that of a dwelling, and the cave is situated close to a frequently- 

 used portage or ciit-off. The six inches of debris from the repasts of occa- 

 sional visitors (who unquestionably were men of the Hunting Period) must 

 have accunuilated very slowly. Then it would seem as if some tidal or 

 earthquake wave was instrumental in forcing a layer (B) of heavy shingle- 

 stones from the adjacent sea-beach into tlie cave. After this had been 

 accomplished, the use of the cave was again changed, and it became a 

 second time a refuge for the dead. The upper layer (A) was exclusively 

 composed of d.ecayed organic matter, from which refuse was excluded, 

 apparentl)^ f»iily ^1^6 bodies of the dead, and articles placed with them, 

 contributing to its formation. This material is free from any taint of 

 civilized influences, and, as I have previously mentioned, unquestionably 

 antedates the advent of the Russians. The length of time taken to form 

 the layer of eighteen or twenty inches of this mold cannot have been small. 

 About the time of the Russian advent (in all probability) the inoutli of the 

 cave was walled up, perhaps to avoid its desecration by the bigoted Greek 

 missionaries. In this condition it remained xmtil 1870, or thereabouts, 

 probably about a century after its being closed. While estimates may 

 difter largely as to the actual time occupied in all this, few will be inclined 

 to dispute its being very considerable. If we allow a thousand years for 

 the duration of the Littoral Period, or deposition of the Echinus layer (and 

 I am disposed to do so), then I think that fifteen hundred or two thousand 

 years is not an excessive estimate for the duration of the Fishing and 

 Hunting Periods. It must be recollected that the proportion of the refuse 

 to the food-supplying material in fish, and especially in mammals, is much 

 less than in the case of the echini; consequently, the population being- 

 similar, the time required to form a layer of fish-bones or mammalian 

 bones would be greater than that required to form an equally deep layer 

 of echinus shells. But the population undoubtedly increased considerably, 

 which would vitiate the proportion if it were not that the area of the shell- 

 heaps also increased very greatly in the later epochs. On the whole, I am 



