1875.] 321 [ Putnam. 



simply, while others were a # five-stranded braid, 1 and of a different 

 and more pliable substance than those which were simply twisted; a 

 small portion of a delicate fringe or tassel of neatly braided fibres; 

 a number of reed " torches,"' generally burned only at one end ; a 

 few small fragments of burned wood, one showing the rough cutting 

 of a stone axe ; several fragments of large gourds ; two flint arrow- 

 points; a few fragments of shells of Unio, one of which was pierced 

 by a hole as if for suspension; a few feathers, probably of the wild 

 turkey, and a portion of a wooden platter or dish. No bones of ani- 

 mals indicating the food of these cave people were found, and though 

 the earth in one of the chambers had been disturbed and looked in 

 several places as if burials had been made, no human bones were dis- 

 covered. Mr. Putnam intended to make farther explorations in this 

 cave, but a severe illness, brought on by exposure and fatigue in the 

 caves, prevented him at that time from carrying out his plan. 

 Enough was discovered, however, to show the importance of a thor- 

 ough exploration of the caves in this country, both to ascertain the 

 facts relating to their having been used as habitations and as sepul- 

 chres, and Mr. Putnam stated that it was encouraging to science to 

 feel that the work begun by the Kentucky Survey, with the assistance 

 given by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology at Cambridge, would 

 be continued until more is known relating to the archaeology of this 

 large and most important group of American caves. 



The discovery, by the saltpetre miners of 1812-15, of bodies 

 buried with care in some of the caves of Kentucky and Tennessee, 

 and the numerous articles which had been found with them, was al- 

 luded to by Mr. Putnam, who stated that since his return from Ken- 

 tucky he had examined the body, and what remained of the very 

 large number of articles found with it, that was so widely known as 

 the "Mammoth Cave Mummy" sixty years ago. This body was, in 

 reality, found in Short Cave, situated about eight miles from the 

 Mammoth Cave, and had been taken to the latter place for the pur- 

 pose of exhibition. Mr. Putnam had visited the spot from which the 

 body had been taken, and, from the location of the grave, thought 

 that there was evidence of the burial having been made prior to the 

 fall of the roof rock, which seems to have taken place in many of the 



1 A long piece of braided rope in every way like this specimen is among the arti- 

 cles found sixty years since with the body in Short Cave. A similar braid, from 

 the Sandwich Islands, but of a brown color, is in the Teabody Museum of Eth. 

 and Arch. Both the Salt Cave and Short Cave specimens are of a light gray color. 



PBOCEEDINGS B. S. N. H~— VOL. XVII. 21 APRIL, 1875. 



