26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 118 



were carried out of the cave and dumped at the entrance. Excava- 

 tion in the ash beds outside the cave yielded no evidence of prehis- 

 toric occupation. 



The entrance to the cave was about 40 feet wide, with an over- 

 head clearance of about 10 feet. From the entrance, toward the rear 

 of the cave, the floor descended and the roof ascended until, at a 

 distance of 80 feet from the entrance, the ceiling was 40 feet high. 

 The floor was covered with large rock masses which had fallen from 

 the roof. Beyond this large vault the cave was much smaller and 

 fairly dry. At a point about 1,000 feet from the entrance there was 

 a pool of clear water. The entrance to the cave will probably be 

 above the high-water mark of Norris Lake, but, since the floor de- 

 scends sharply, the rising waters will certainly fill the rear portion 

 of the cavern. 



Inside the entrance the sloping floor was covered with ashes and 

 midden deposit to a depth varying from 3 to 6 feet for a distance of 

 80 feet. The midden material contained much shell and many frag- 

 mentary animal bones. Beyond the bank of debris there seemed to 

 be no further evidence of prehistoric occupation, although a careful 

 inspection of the cave floor was made for a distance of 600 feet. A 

 local inhabitant stated that some 3 years previously he had seen a 

 burial wrapped in cane and bark resting on a ledge of rock in the 

 cave wall, some 400 feet back from the entrance. He offered to guide 

 the party to it. Careful inspection failed to reveal its location, or 

 to yield any evidence of occupation deep in the cave, except for the 

 wooden vats used by the Confederates in leaching the soil for niter. 

 It is believed that the information given by the man was correct, 

 since his description checked with information obtained by explora- 

 tion — a fact which he could not have known at the time. The burial 

 he had seen had doubtless been removed by someone within the last 

 3 years. 



Excavation of the cave floor was begun at a point 80 feet from the 

 entrance where the midden deposit thinned out to meet the rock floor 

 of the cavern. Here a trench was run from one side of the cave to 

 the other. The earth was thrown behind the workers into the cave 

 as the trench was exploited laterally toward the entrance. In this 

 way the entire midden deposit in the cave entrance was examined. 

 This resulted in the removal of a layer of ashes and midden mate- 

 rial from 3 to 6 feet over an area of about 3,500 square feet. 



Figure 7 is a plan of the cave entrance. It shows the location of 

 the 13 burials and the fireplace which were uncovered. While the 

 cave was as dry as most caves the midden deposit at the entrance 

 was damp and had long been subjected to the action of outside water. 

 The water flowed into the cave as the result of the downward slope 



