Archeological Investigations Part 10

Near the west wall were four holes in an almost straight north-and-south line. The first (1), was 29 feet north of the doorway, 18 inches deep and 7 inches in diameter. In it was the clay pipe shown in figure 14. Number (2), 5 feet from (1), was 24 by 9 inches; No. (3) 2 feet from (2), was 26 by 7 inches; No. (4), 4 feet from (3), was 30 by 5 inches. Fourteen inches northwest of No. (1) was another hole, 15 by 3 inches. The description on a previous page as to character, appearance, and contents applies to all these holes; the ashes extended above all of them in continuous layers.

A little to the west of No. (1) was a small pile of crumbling fragments of sandstone and limestone used in boiling food.

Near No. (4), a foot under the surface, on the slope, 15 feet from the water, was a small pile of charcoal on which lay a human scapula, some vertebrae, fragments of ribs, most of a humerus, and most of a femur of a person not fully matured; they were of good size but the cap fell away from the humerus when it was moved. Some of them were without marks of fire, others were charred, while a few pieces were burned to cinder. As the ma.s.s was surrounded by clean ashes, it could not be determined whether the charcoal had been burned where found, or had been carried here. Whichever it was, the bones had been thrown on the pile.

Thirteen feet just north from the corner of the west wall was a hole 19 by 7 inches which differed from the others in that the bottom instead of being rounded was irregular, and deeper at one side; the top, however, showed the usual hemispherical contour.

Two feet from corner of west wall, almost under a point projecting from it, 4 feet below surface, was a cranium from which the upper jaw, one orbit, and part of the right parietal were missing; with it were a lower jaw, a clavicle, a sternum, the bones of the left arm, and some phalanges, all in good condition, except the ulna, which was broken.

No other bones were present. The skull lay on right side, face toward the wall; the arm bones were on it, and the other bones by it. With and around them were some deer bones. The entire lot had the appearance of being thrown together here at one time, and it would seem that the flesh of all of them had been eaten.

Fourteen feet north from the corner, halfway down to the water, in the wet earth at the bottom, were human bones evidently placed here entire, but so decayed and broken that nothing could be ascertained except that it seemed a closely folded body or skeleton had been deposited. The teeth were worn down to the gums.

The refuse behind the corner of the west wall was cleared away as far as the conditions would permit. The amount of water at the rear of the cave varies with the rainfall; sometimes it almost disappears, again it may be fully 2 feet deep; but at all times the earth and ashes near it are saturated above its lowest level. Consequently, on account of the mud, excavations could not be carried fully to the end in either direction. As scarcely anything was found in the last few feet, this omission was not important.

The entire distance worked over, from the front margin to the line where no further advance could be made, at 14 feet from the water, was 91 feet. No spot that could be reached throughout this length was left undug.

The small openings in the west wall presented no features worthy of special mention; but those in the east wall yielded interesting results.

First of these was a small cave 39 feet from the main entrance. At the front its width was 11 feet; 6 feet within it narrowed to 4 feet. A hole on the north side ended at a crevice that led to a chamber higher up, from which, in turn, another crevice extended. All this s.p.a.ce, even beyond the point to which a man could worm his way, was filled with fine earth and ashes containing much refuse. Worked objects were found at the greatest distance which could be reached.

A few feet within the entrance this minor cave divided into three parts. A crevice trending northward is too small to follow. The two others extend in a general easterly direction. The central branch, the left of the two, also closes within a few feet. Neither of these contained anything but natural earth. In the one to the right, 7 feet from the entrance, was a pocket on the south side, 18 inches wide, 30 inches high, and 4 feet deep; it was filled with ashes containing bone and sh.e.l.l, but no worked object except a flake sc.r.a.per. At intervals, within the next few feet, were two mortars, a much used pestle, some bone awls, and flints, all of them in places where it was scarcely possible for a man to sit erect, as the tunnel-like cavity, circ.u.mscribed by solid rock, was nowhere as much as 4 feet in diameter. At its narrowest part it measured only 3 feet high and 18 inches wide.

At 20 feet the cave opens into a well-like enlargement, 5 by 6 feet, and 5 feet high. Bone and sh.e.l.l in small amounts were found here, and among them the skiver shown at d in plate 36.

From this well-like cavity three branches start; one continuing in a direct line east, one to the north, and one to the south. The east (middle) branch is only 24 inches high and 17 inches wide, with solid rock all around. It contained ashes, with a little refuse, as far as a man could reach.

The branch to the north is entered through an opening 3 feet high and 31 inches wide in a thin wall of the original rock, just within which it widens to nearly 7 feet, holding the same height of 3 feet. Within this doorway, on the red earth bottom, were a small mortar and a grinding stone worn by much use; both were stained with red paint. A foot farther in was part of a skiver; and 2 feet beyond this was a large knife of white chert almost as clear and compact as chalcedony, shown at a in plate 27. Ashes continued in the north tunnel for 26 feet from the entrance, beyond which no further progress was possible.

Before this point was reached, the refuse which had been continually decreasing in amount no longer appeared.

The tunnel leading from the well toward the south is 19 inches high, 3 feet 9 inches wide. At 3 feet it branches; one fork, 2 feet high and 17 inches wide, turns eastward and curves to join the east branch from the well. The other branch continues south, but soon closes; in it were found a small piece of an adult's skull and the hip bone of a young child.

The floors in all the branches of the small cave were covered from 3 to 12 inches deep with a reddish mixture of sand and clay, on which were ashes filling the s.p.a.ce above almost to the roof. In a few places refuse was found in this silt, of the same general character as that in the ashes, but in very small amount. This is not significant; such remains were dragged down by animals, which range everywhere. The two deposits are quite separated and distinct.

The clay and sand on the rock bottom came from disintegrated rock on top of the ground outside, or at any rate from some level higher than that where they are found now; but how ashes, sh.e.l.ls, broken bone, and especially how worked objects came to be in places too contracted for a man to creep, and where they could be neither carried nor pushed, is not to be explained except on the hypothesis of a chamber above, whence they may have worked or may have been thrown down; but at no place, either in the cave or in the outside surface, could there be found any evidence of such communication.

Fifty-five feet from the mouth of the cave, in the east wall, is a crevice into whose lower portion extended the red clay of the cavern floor. It branched into various tortuous divisions, all of which were filled with ashes containing a large proportion of refuse. It appeared at first that all this had settled in, or been thrown in, from the main cavern; but one branch, having a very irregular outline, was in such situation and trended upward at such an angle that it could not have been filled from below. As in similar cases previously noted, however, no other opening to it was to be found. The smallest workman cleared it out to as great a distance as he could crawl and use a trowel, but did not succeed in reaching the end of the deposits.

At the bottom of the crevice were ground-hog burrows extending between loose rocks, under ledges, and into the red clay. All these were followed as far as they could be, and found to contain quant.i.ties of refuse. There was also a considerable amount of fine dark earth in the burrows, showing they have another outlet somewhere. Occasionally a ma.s.s thrown out by a shovel or a trowel contained more refuse than ashes. There was nearly everything which was found elsewhere in the cave, and almost every shovelful contained something worth preserving.

Near the rear of the cave erosion of the lower part of the eastern wall formed a rudely triangular recess or cavity 30 feet long by 7 feet deep at the widest part. The upper margin of this was below the surface of the ashes, so that its existence was not suspected until these had been removed from in front of it. The roof was 5 feet above the rock bottom, the entire s.p.a.ce being filled with loose material.

The upper 2 feet of this was clean ashes in which were great quant.i.ties of refuse, so much that it had all the appearance of a general dumping ground. Below this depth, patches of fine dark earth were mingled with the ashes and refuse. The latter continually decreased in quant.i.ty, until at a foot above the bottom they ceased altogether, the lower portion of the deposit consisting of nothing but earth. The pure ashes were slightly damp; and the moisture increased with the depth until at a foot above the bottom the earth was saturated and could no longer be removed with tools.

The refuse in the ashes consisted of animal bones, entire or in fragments; broken flints and pottery; mussel and snail sh.e.l.ls; and numerous wrought objects. These continued, though in smaller amount, where the ashes were mingled with earth, though bones and sh.e.l.ls were soft owing to the moisture, and could be removed only in fragments.

Among them were the flint shown at a in plate 28, and the hemat.i.te ax, at a, plate 29. The latter was at the lowest level to which the ashes extended; perhaps its weight caused it to settle below the place at which it originally lay.

Near the middle of this chamber, 2 feet from the rear wall, lying at the bottom of the mixed ashes and earth, were 12 entire and 3 broken leaf-shaped blades; they were not closely piled, or arranged in any order, but seem to have been hastily or carelessly laid or thrown on a small s.p.a.ce. Another was found a foot away. They are shown in plate 25.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 26 FLINTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 27 FLINTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 28 FLINTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 29 AXES AND PESTLES FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

Here and there among the refuse were found the upper jaw, with left orbit, of a young person; a fragment of an occiput, perhaps belonging with the above though not lying near it; fragments of the skull of a young child; half of an ulna of a child probably 12 years old; a small fragment of the lower jaw of an adult with one molar remaining in it, which has been burned until black. These fragments were all in such position and condition as to show they were not carried in by animals; were not disinterred from graves and placed here; were not in any way accidentally present; but had been gathered up with the refuse and thrown in as a part of it. The broken or burned condition of these, as well as of other human bones found at random among the ashes of the main cave, are presumptive evidence that dwellers here sometimes devoured the flesh of human beings; and the fact that a majority of such bones are those of children indicates that it was not eaten through a belief that the valor and skill of an enemy could be thus absorbed by the victor, but that it was used as food, like the flesh of any other animal. Such conclusion may not be justified; but the facts are not readily accounted for otherwise, except on the equally repulsive hypothesis that the inmates of the cave were brutally indifferent to the bodies or skeletal remains of their fellows.

Omitting this question from consideration, however, there is still ample evidence that the inhabitants of Miller's Cave were in a low state of savagery, or, if the phrase be preferred, in a very primitive stage of culture. There was a remarkable paucity of articles used as ornaments or for personal decoration, and the few that were found were simple and crude, being only rubbed stones or rough pieces of bones which were possibly intended for beads or pendants. The pottery, while strong and serviceable, was plain in form and devoid of any ornamentation or design except that a few pieces showed impressions such as would be made by scratching or pressing with the end of a small stick or bone. Nearly all of it was cord-marked, though some was smooth, one red piece appearing almost glazed. It varied much in thickness, hardness, and color. Most of it was dark gray, some red, occasionally a piece yellowish or nearly white; due to the different clays of which it was made. So far as observed it was tempered with sh.e.l.l. The shards were small, as if when a pot was broken the fragments were still further demolished. The curvature showed there was a wide range in size, from about a pint to 2 gallons or more.

Their mortars were natural blocks or slabs of sandstone, such as may be picked up by thousands in the immediate neighborhood, and showed no alteration of form beyond ordinary wear except that the rough faces of a few were pecked, apparently with a pointed flint tool, to make them less irregular. Some were flat and smooth from use with a muller or grinding stone; most of them were worked or hollowed on only one face; a few showed depressions on both sides; one had a few hemispherical indentations near the margin, like those observed in cup-stones.

Only one pestle was dressed into any of the forms which we are accustomed to a.s.sociate with the name, and this was a truncated cone with rounded top, shown at b in plate 29. All the others were cobblestones from ravines or the river sh.o.r.e. A few had undergone no change in form; most of them were battered on the perimeter; a few had pitted sides; some had been used as pestles, mullers, or grinding stones until the surface was more or less smooth. All such stones are cla.s.sed as "pestles," for convenience; they could have also been used as hammers, bone crushers, and in various other ways.

In all, 73 mortars were found; counting only those stones which bore marks of use as such. The largest one was at the bottom of the ashes, near the doorway. There were more than 100 pestles which bore evidence of much use; and probably as many more on which there was little or no sign of wear. As the cavern was not of sufficient size to provide living quarters for many families at any one time--10 or 12 at the most--the large number of these utensils may imply that the inmates would not use an object which had previously belonged to some one else.

Among the flint implements there was a wide range in the character of stone, the shape, and the degree of finish, although the variation in size was quite limited. Very few of them may be cla.s.sed as either large or small. The longest, shown at a in plate 28, measured 5 inches; few were more than 4 or less than 2 inches. Tapering stems predominated. The princ.i.p.al forms are shown in plates 26-28. Only three arrowheads were found; but this was to be expected, as arrows would be used only out of doors. One of these of clear, fine-grained pink and white chert, shown at b in plate 28, so far surpa.s.ses in delicate finish any other specimen secured that it is probably exotic.

The large number of cores, blocks, spalls, and flakes shows that many implements were made and repaired here. But, while a few specimens showed that their fabricators were masters of the chipping art, most of them were roughly finished. Some which are so little altered from the original form of the rough flake or spall that they would be cla.s.sed as "rejects" if found about a flint workshop have a smoothness or "hand polish" which denotes much service. There is the possibility, of course, that hunting or traveling parties from some other part of the country may have availed themselves of the shelter, either when it was temporarily unoccupied, or as guests of those living in it; and that these, also, may have left some small articles when they departed. However this may have been, all the objects from the top to the bottom of the deposits, in dry ashes or in sticky mud, in crevices or branch caverns, on the red clay, the barren muck, or the bedrock--all, if we may except the few flints of superior workmanship--are identical in general character: That is to say, any object from any part of the deposited material had its practical duplicate at various other points on different levels.

Only three grooved axes and three pestles were found. They are shown in plate 29, along with a cobblestone used as a pestle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 30 BONE IMPLEMENTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 31 BONE IMPLEMENTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 32 BONE IMPLEMENTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 33 BONE IMPLEMENTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 34 BONE AND ANTLER IMPLEMENTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 35 ANTLER IMPLEMENTS FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 36 SKIVERS, SHOWING STAGES OF MANUFACTURE, FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 37 Sh.e.l.l SPOONS, POTTERY DISKS, AND BROKEN SPOON MADE OF A DEER'S SKULL, FROM MILLER'S CAVE]

The cave was especially rich in objects wrought from bone and antler.

A few of these are shown in plates 30-36 and figure 15.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 15.--Perforated bone object from Miller's Cave.]

Plate 36 ill.u.s.trates four stages in the manufacture of skivers. It shows that instead of being always rubbed down from its natural form the bone was sometimes split by blows of a stone hammer until complete, subsequent smoothing probably resulting from use, as shown by the implement at c. When skivers were broken, the ends were dressed down for other uses; as observed in the upper row of plate 32.

Sh.e.l.l spoons, knives, and sc.r.a.pers were abundant. Some are shown in plate 37, along with perforated pottery disks and the bowl of a spoon made from the frontal bone of a deer.

Figure 16 represents the only adz or gouge form implement found. It is made of gray chert, the edge highly polished. In figure 17 is shown a broken clay pipe, identical in form and material with that in figure 14.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 16.--Adz or gouge of chert from Miller's Cave.]