PLATE 18
TEETH FROM SELL CAVE AND OTHER CAVES, SHOWING MANNER
AND AMOUNT OF WEARToList
Near the surface, 18 feet from the entrance, 14 feet from the east wall, were the right half of a skull and of a lower jaw; a few small, scattered pieces of skull were found near them. The teeth were much worn, some of them were decayed, and two had the roots swollen and distorted by ulceration. South of the skull were fragments of feet and leg bones, probably belonging with it. This interment was of much later date than the others.
Thirty-two feet from the front, 16 feet from the east wall, 2½ feet below the surface, and a foot above the bottom of the talus, was a folded skeleton, on left side, head toward the interior of the cave, face directly upward. So much of the skull as could be recovered is shown in plate 17, a, b. The teeth were much worn, the bones broken, soft and spongy, falling away with the clay as it was removed from about them. The femur was about 17½ inches long.
Wear of teeth among aboriginal people does not of necessity denote a great age for the individual. Grit from ashes and fine sand from mortars and pestles will cut away the enamel to a much greater extent than would result from the use of ordinary food.
The condition of the teeth mentioned, as well as of some from other localities, is shown in plates 18 and 19.
From the inner end of the ditch, or runway, at the entrance the excavation was carried back for 40 feet in a direct line; or making allowance for passing around a massive rock which was in a position where it could not be blasted, for 43 feet; the depth of the talus here was 3 feet.
On the east side the talus was removed to the wall, a distance of 28 feet from the edge of the trench, and the wall rock exposed for 22 feet, to the rear bank of the excavation.
All work, so far, had been carried on at a level a few inches below the bottom of the talus, which rested directly upon the floor of clay washed out from the interior of the cave.
Beginning next at the outer end of the trench, the entire space included in the first excavation was deepened by a little more than 6 feet, giving a new floor about 13 feet lower than the highest part of the talus. All the material thus removed showed that it was laid down by flowing water, sometimes so quiet as to deposit clay of impalpable fineness, sometimes with a velocity sufficient to carry stones weighing 3 or 4 pounds. The material varied—red clay, now jointed, was the topmost layer; below it, in patches and layers, were dark earth, resembling soil; clay of different shades of yellow, brown, red, and gray, sometimes almost blue; some of it uniform, some of it mingled, one or any or all of the different sorts in small compass; deposits of one sort filling sharply defined channels or potholes cut in some other sort; occasionally there was a slight admixture of sand. All included limestone pebbles, which were plentiful in some deposits but entirely absent from others, were weathered to a chalky consistency, the larger ones to a depth of perhaps half an inch, the smaller ones throughout. Scarcely any chert was included, although it is abundant on the hill; the few pieces seen were very small.
It took five weeks of steady work, with two men, to clear out the second level. In all this clay there was not the slightest trace of bone or other indication that living beings of any kind had existed either in the cave or in any place from which the clay had come.
At 24 feet from the eastern side of the trench, projections on the face of the east wall denoted that bed rock was not far away. A hole 8 feet across, at the rear of the excavation, reached sand with a slight admixture of clay a few inches under the level at which the work was being conducted; and 4 feet down, or 17 feet from the top of the talus, the rock was found. It was rough and furrowed, like a solid stratum that has been long exposed to atmospheric weathering.
Further exploration was useless. The sand results from disintegration of the Roubidoux sandstone belonging next above the limestone in which the cave was formed. None of this remains on the hill; it has all been carried away by erosion. There is not now any sink hole or crevice above the level of the cavern through which the sand could have made its way. Such an opening must have existed at one time, on the slope at one side or the other, or farther back where the hill is now cut off. In either case, erosion has carried away its walls and filled up the channel leading from it, and thus obliterated its site. To accomplish this would require a long time; enough to produce a considerable alteration in the topography, and so to predicate for the bottom deposits in the cave an antiquity far beyond the possible appearance of man in the region.
The Phillips Cave faces Roubidoux Creek near the Big Spring, a mile south of Waynesville. Access to the interior is possible only by crawling some distance on wet clay. Other caves in the same line of bluffs are either very small or almost inaccessible. No refuse appears about any of them.
In the upper part of the bluff bordering Roubidoux Creek just west of Waynesville, on the farm of Robert A. Bell, are numerous caves, most of them quite small. One, much larger than any of the others, has an entrance 27 feet wide and 12 feet high. The floor is of earth mingled with small rocks, and rises gradually toward the rear until at 70 feet it almost reaches the roof, although the open space enlarges farther in. The width of the cave varies from 19 to 32 feet. Several large rocks have fallen from the roof and walls at a comparatively recent date, as they lie directly upon the earth or are only slightly imbedded in it.
Shells and flint flakes occur in small amount, but the cave is so difficult of access that it was probably but little used.
Some human bones, rooted out by hogs, were scattered over the floor; only a few remained, the hogs having chewed up most of them. Part of a femur belonged to a person about 18 or 20 years of age. A skull and part of a lower jaw, lying several feet apart but belonging to the same individual, were secured; they are shown in plate 17, c, d. Few of the teeth remained, though all had been in place at the time of interment.
This is three-fourths of a mile west from Waynesville. It is small, with a muddy bottom, and could never have been occupied.
Bucher Cave is 2 miles northeast of Waynesville. It has a small, low entrance, nearly closed by a pile of chert gravel mixed with some clay, which has been carried by surface water from the slope above.
On a low spur, projecting about halfway up a high hill opposite McKennan's house, 2½ miles northeast of Waynesville, are two of the ordinary stone graves or cairns, both small. One has been torn apart; the other is intact.
They are mentioned only because in the one which has not been disturbed the stones are sunken at the center, affording good evidence that timbers were placed over the corpse before the stones were piled up.
In a vertical bluff overlooking the junction of Roubidoux Creek and the Gasconade River is a cavern with a high, wide entrance giving access to a large chamber which has several smaller but well-lighted rooms opening into it. There was formerly a considerable depth of earth on the rock bottom, but most of it has been taken out for fertilizer. What is left is dry near the entrance, but wet farther in. Although it would make an ideal Indian home, being easy of access and within a few rods of the two streams, there could be found no indications of such habitation; and owing to the small amount of earth remaining, the presence of many large rocks, and the close proximity of a large club house on the public highway immediately in front, no excavation is possible.
A cairn on the point of the cliff over this cave has been completely demolished.
There is a large cave at the head of a ravine a fourth of a mile below the bridge over the Gasconade River, on the Richland and Hanna road, 7½ miles from Richland. The entrance is 70 feet wide and 40 feet high; daylight extends to a point 200 feet within, where the cave divides into two parts, both of which turn abruptly. Cave earth near the entrance on one side is scanty in quantity, damp and moldy; but beyond this it is dry, unevenly surfaced, and appears to have been somewhat disturbed. There is considerable refuse on and in the dry earth as far back as the inner end of the front chamber, and were it not for the many rocks, too large to be removed, which cover nearly the entire floor and would make excavation very difficult and incomplete, the deposits would probably repay investigation.
On the farm of Sam T. Rollins, 2½ miles northwest of Waynesville, are two large caves.
The first, in a bluff facing the Gasconade, half a mile above the mouth of Roubidoux Creek, is 50 feet above the bottom of the hill. The entrance, toward the northeast, is 45 feet wide and 36 feet high. The sides are parallel for 45 feet; at that point the east wall abruptly recedes for 12 feet and then continues in a curving line for 120 feet farther, to an outlet in the side of a shallow ravine trending toward the west. This opening, 13 feet wide, is filled nearly to the top with débris which slopes steeply for 40 feet into the cave.
The west wall, at 45 feet, makes an outward curve to a branch which leads northwest for 25 feet and has an opening on the side of the hill 25 feet wide and 20 feet high; the talus at the front is 12 feet high and slopes steeply into the cave. Beyond this branch the west wall extends in a straight line to the small outlet at the ravine.
The floor of the cave has a gentle incline from the bottom of the débris in the rear to the main entrance.
No refuse could be found in the cave or around any of the three entrances; and the place would not be suitable for a shelter in winter as the wind, no matter from what direction, blows directly through it.
The second cave is near the foot of the hill, half a mile up the river from the first. A gentle slope in front leads to the bottom land along the stream. The entrance, toward the northwest, is 60 feet wide and 10 feet high. At 65 feet within is standing water; marks in a channel along the west wall show that at times there is an outflow with a depth of a foot or more. At the front is a great amount of talus partly fallen from the ledge forming the roof, partly washed down from the hillside; the outer slope is 20 feet high, the inner slope has a slight incline to the standing water. The entire deposit within the cave and in front of it is of tough, sticky clay. Many large rocks lie on the surface or slightly imbedded, and large trees grow on the talus. No indications of occupancy could be discovered.
On the Mix farm, half a mile below the Gasconade bridge on the Waynesville and Crocker road, on the left (west) side, at the head of a ravine, is a cave with an entrance 75 feet wide and 20 feet high. Cave earth, apparently not more than 3 feet thick at any point, although it gradually rises to a level 6 feet higher than the floor at the mouth, extends back 80 feet; beyond this is water-soaked clay and gravel reaching 60 feet farther to a turn in the cave, making a distance of about 140 feet in daylight. There is a shallow channel 12 feet wide along the east wall from the gravel to the entrance; evidence that at times a volume of water of that width flows out of the cave. The cave earth is damp for several feet from the line of its contact with the clay, a certain indication that its lower portion is saturated.
Much refuse, including several mortars, is distributed over the floor, and it is especially apparent in the bed of the little stream; but fully half the surface is covered with rocks too large to be removed, and these, together with the water, will effectually prevent satisfactory excavation.
One of the mortars has a grinding cavity on one face 12 by 20 inches and 3 inches deep at the middle; on the other face, which has been pecked, apparently with a flint tool, to make it level and even, is also a cavity, but it is small and shallow, showing that this side of the stone was but little used.
On Walter Miller's farm, 1½ miles below the Crocker and Waynesville bridge, on the left side of the river, is the "Double Cave," so called for the reason that it has two entrances. The one farthest down the river is more nearly in line with the general trend of the cavern. Its opening is 35 feet wide and 20 feet high. At 40 feet in from the mouth, on the left or up-river side, the two parts of the cavern unite, a triangular partition of the original limestone strata separating them up to the point of junction. Across the apex of the triangle the main cave is 50 feet wide; there is no vertical wall on the right (east) side along this portion, the roof sloping down gradually until it meets the earth floor; it may extend farther, making the cave that much wider at the bedrock bottom. The cave earth at its highest point is fully 10 feet higher than at the entrance; but this may not mean that it is 10 feet deeper, for there are indications that the rock floor also rises from the entrance toward the interior. Digging in the front part of the main cave—that is, in the portion behind the lower entrance—would be impracticable owing to the huge rocks, some of them lying on the floor, others deeply imbedded in the earth; consequently part of them, at least, fell while the cave was inhabited.
From the junction of the two branches the cave earth extends back 60 feet to clay and gravel washed down from the interior; there is ample light at this point, and for some distance beyond. In part, this gravel seems to overlie the loose earth; it is still depositing, and the manner in which the various materials intermingle and overlap at their meeting place indicates that the cave earth to some extent underlies the gravel and clay. This feature is worth investigating, as it might have a bearing upon the relative age of the cave deposits.
The entrance to the branch cave is 20 feet higher in the face of the bluff than that of the main cave, and consequently much above any water flowing from the interior; it is 20 feet wide by 15 feet high. Measured along the east wall, it is 40 feet from this entrance to the apex of the triangle separating the two parts of the cavern. The greatest width of the united caves, 70 feet, is just beyond this point. The earth floor in the branch, a fine-grained yellow earth apparently deposited by quiet or gently flowing water, is 3 feet higher than it is at the highest point farther back in the cave, and is 4 feet or more higher than the bedrock at the front. No direct communication is possible, in front, from one entrance to the other. The only means of transference is by passing through the caverns around the triangular partition, or by going down to the talus from one opening and then up to the other; though only a few feet of descent is necessary. There is an easy passage to and from the Gasconade, which flows at the foot of the bluff; and a good path in either direction to the top of the hill.
Very little refuse occurs, and the site is not worth examining.
On railway property, north of the Gasconade River on the east of the Waynesville and Crocker road, is a noted cave which "runs clear through the hill," and can be entered from either end. From the descriptions given it certainly could never have been utilized as a dwelling place.
Bat Cave, so named because it formerly harbored immense numbers of bats, is on Robert Page's land, 4½ miles from Crocker, near the Waynesville road. The entrance is 40 feet wide and 30 feet high. Cave earth extends for more than 200 feet in plain daylight; at this depth the cave separates into two branches, one directly over the other. The lower division continues into the hill on a level; the upper rises at a slight angle; neither is high enough to permit a man to stand erect.
The greatest width, a few rods from the front, is 55 feet. A drainage channel near one wall shows a considerable outflow in wet weather. In the low, vertical bank of this drain, gravel and small rocks are mingled with the earth in such quantity as to comprise more than half the mass. But this is probably due to the fact that a large quantity of earth, mostly, of course, from the upper part of the deposits, has been taken away for fertilizer. Neither in the bank of the little channel nor about the pits left by this digging is any refuse to be seen, and there is none about the entrance. So, in spite of its suitability for residential purposes and its favorable situation, it does not seem ever to have been utilized.
A fourth of a mile from the Bat Cave is a natural tunnel or underground passage which has its beginning in a deep sink hole half a mile away on the farther side of the hill. Into this depression pours all the water that comes through a ravine more than 4 miles long, receiving several tributaries on the way; thus draining several hundred acres of steep hillsides from which storm water runs off almost as quickly as from a roof. From the sink hole it passes into the upper end of the tunnel, an opening 10 feet high and 20 feet wide. Trash and drift around this inlet show that the water rises above its top.
The lower opening of the tunnel is a beautiful, regular arch, 100 feet wide and 50 feet high. For some distance in, the interior is so choked with huge rocks, which reach almost to the roof near one side at the front, that it resembles a great quarry. Gravel, sand, and driftwood, including a large log 15 feet long, are piled on these rocks to a height of 20 feet.
Brooks Cave, 11 miles southeast of Waynesville, has an entrance through a sink hole in a level field. It is small and dark for some distance back, and was never occupied.
Openings of this character are never the original mouths of caverns; they are due to the roof falling in at a point where it has become thin by wearing away from below.
Riddle Cave is on John W. Schord's farm, near Wildwood. The entrance is through a sink, similar to that at Brooks Cave, and is due to the same causes. It could never have been occupied.
Somewhat more than a mile north of Big Piney post office is a cave known as Lane's Cave. Near it is a smaller cave; also a rock shelter. They are all small, high up in the cliff, hard to reach, and unsuitable for living in.
A cave on Dry Creek, north of Lane's Cave, is small and almost inaccessible. Never used.
There is a group of house mounds, about 100 in number, close to the site of the "Ranch House," which formerly stood near "The Falls" 4 miles southwest from Big Piney. Two other groups, north of this one, carry the mounds for about 4 miles along a little valley, which extends north and south about midway between Big Piney and Bloodland. Most of the mounds, in all the groups, are on the slight slopes bordering either side of the little stream—which sometimes ceases to flow—but a few of them are on the narrow strip of level land along the banks.
There is another group south of Bloodland. They were not learned of in time to visit them.
A mile southeast of the steel bridge across Big Piney, on the Edenville road, is Riden's Cave, in a small ravine opening into another ravine. The entrance is 25 feet wide and 8 feet high, and the front chamber extends 30 feet to an abrupt turn. There are large rocks on the floor near the mouth and some cave earth and a small amount of refuse at the front. Apparently it was never occupied except as a temporary camp.
Near Miller's Spring, 2½ miles northeast of Big Piney, in a high bluff, is a large cave whose name is derived from the quantity of saltpeter collected from it in the early settlement of the country. Earth for leaching was removed to such an extent that bedrock is now exposed near the entrance and at several places within. In addition many large rocks cumber the floor, consequently excavations would not yield satisfactory results, although refuse still to be seen in the cave and in front of it shows that it was a place of aboriginal habitation.
Three miles northeast of Big Piney is a cavern which from its position, formation, and surroundings is particularly adapted to the requirements of primitive people in search of a permanent shelter. It is situated in a bluff rising from the left bank of Big Piney River, 200 feet above the level of that stream and half that distance below the summit of the hill of which the bluff forms the front. It lies in three different tracts of land, but the greater portion is on the farm of Daniel S. Miller, who lives a little more than half a mile away. For three generations it has been widely known as "Miller's Cave." It opens toward the southeast, the river at this point flowing north of east, and thus secures protection from the cold winds of winter, receives the greatest amount of light through the day, and has the advantage of sunshine at the season when this is most needed. Big Piney, like all streams in the Ozark region, is extremely crooked and its bed is a continuous succession of riffles and pools, or eddies as they are locally known. In front of the cave is one of these pools nearly a mile long and at lowest stages fully 15 feet deep in places; even now it yields an abundance of fish, turtles, frogs, and mussels, all of which are important items in the aboriginal dietary.
A fourth of a mile above the cave Big Piney makes an abrupt turn, coming to this point from the southeast. Here it receives the outflow from a large spring located at the foot of the hill, a fourth of a mile to the southward, which boils up in a pool 40 feet across and at its lowest stage discharges several thousand gallons every hour. Its volume responds quickly to a heavy rainfall and to the succeeding period of fair weather, although its level never passes above or below certain fixed points. A singular feature of this spring, one which has given it a wide reputation, is its rhythmic ebb and flow. With absolute regularity, regardless of atmospheric conditions, it swells for six hours, then subsides for an equal period, stages of high and low water occurring at the same hours every day. The extreme range of level is about a foot. Intermittent springs are not uncommon; but the regularity of this one is remarkable, particularly so as its action is not affected by changes in the volume. A dam was built below this spring by the father of Mr. Miller to furnish power for a mill; when the mill was not running the noise of the falling water, reenforced by the echoes from the hills around, could be heard a long distance and gave it the title of Roaring Spring. The Indians had a name for it which was interpreted by the whites as "Blowing Spring;" but as there are no unusual currents of air in the vicinity it is probable the proper translation would be "Breathing Spring," on account of its recurrent motion. The branch from this spring, following a course along the foot of the hill, is wide and shallow, though swift, and is nearly filled with a dense growth of long, moss-like vegetation which was greedily devoured by deer, herds of them being frequently seen in the water by early settlers.
From the mouth of the cave several hundred acres of fertile alluvial land can be seen along both banks of the river. In the bottom land lying nearest to the spring branch—which is itself entitled to be called a creek—and extending southward to Miller's residence, partly on an upper terrace, but mostly on the low land, was a village site on which were formerly many small mounds which from the description were undoubtedly house mounds. Mortars occur in numbers, while fragments of pottery and flint, as well as many unbroken implements, were formerly abundant to a depth of several inches. On the opposite side from the cavern, in the angle formed by the abrupt turn of the river, is another village site. A ditch, with an interior embankment about 6 feet high, formerly extended in a curved line across the point. This fortification was about 600 feet long, coming to the river bank at either end. In the part thus protected were many low, small mounds placed close together but quite irregularly. These were probably house mounds. No trace of any of this artificial work is now apparent except that a difference in color may be seen here and there when the soil is freshly turned, all the earthworks having been plowed and dragged level as interfering with cultivation. A great amount of broken pottery, flint implements, and fragments of animal bones has been uncovered here. In fact, the field is known locally as "the place where the Indians made their pottery." This site seems to have been occupied within historic times; after an unusual freshet some years ago, many "round musket-balls, such as belonged to the old-fashioned muzzle loaders"—"hundreds," or "two gallons," of them is the usual version—were picked up where the loose soil had washed off. There is a local tradition, long antedating the discovery of the bullets, that a "battle" was fought here between the French and the Indians.
On the hill over the cave are three cairns, but they have been so searched through that scarcely a stone remains in its proper place. There is also the site of a flint-working industry, a space 40 or 50 feet across being strewn with spalls, flakes, and chips.
When, in addition to the sustenance provided by deer and other large game, there is taken into consideration the great numbers of wild fowls which frequented the rugged hills and numerous streams; the multitude of small mammals which found security in the myriad cavities and crevices in the cliffs; the abundant food supply in the river; and the further fact that so many mortars and pestles meant the utilization of nuts and the cultivation of corn and no doubt of other foodstuffs as well; it is apparent that the problem of mere subsistence was one with which the natives had but little need to concern themselves. That full recognition was accorded to these advantages is amply attested by the great quantity of flints found everywhere in the vicinity, the numerous workshops on the hills and in the bottoms where the ground is thickly strewn with débris in every stage from the intact nodule or block to the finished implement, and the amount of refuse not only in this cavern, but in the Saltpeter Cave in the same bluff and in the Freeman or Ramsey Cave 3 miles down the river on the opposite side. Miller's Cave, however, possesses an additional advantage, one probably not to be found elsewhere. This is the absolute security of its inmates from the attack of an enemy. The mouth of the cave is in the face of a perpendicular bluff, the wall on either side so smooth that not even a squirrel can obtain a foothold. The upper stratum of the precipice projects to such an extent that a rope or a ladder let down from above would fall several feet beyond the outer edge of the floor. Below, there is a vertical drop of 30 feet to the top of the rough talus which is as steep as rocks and earth will lie. If an assailant, by approaching from either side, should reach the foot of this bluff he would offer a fair target for stones rolled or hurled down by defenders who are safely out of reach of missiles from any direction.
The only means of entrance is a small opening in the west wall, communicating with another cave. This is so restricted in size as to permit the passage of only one person at a time, and he must assume a crawling or crouching posture. This opening, which for distinction will be called the doorway, has its top, sides, and bottom coated with stalagmite formation; so it may once have been somewhat larger than at present. The limited amount of the deposit over the natural rock at either end of the orifice is evidence, however, that it could never have been high enough for a man to walk through without stooping, or wide enough for two persons to pass each other; consequently one man armed with a club or other weapon could easily guard it against any number who might attempt to enter.
The cavern from which this opening leads, and which will be called the outer cave, is close to and nearly parallel with the face of the bluff, and its course is therefore approximately east and west, forming nearly a right angle with the main cavern. It has a slight curve, so that the doorway is not visible to one who is approaching from the outside until he is within a few yards of it.
The outer cave has its beginning at a point where the bluff bends toward the north; that is, where there is a shallow reentrant curve, formed by the face of the cliff breaking away at this part and rolling down the hill; a considerable portion of this cave itself has been thus destroyed, as shown by another entrance into the bluff beyond. Much talus has accumulated in this cave, over which there is at present a fairly easy though winding and zigzag path to the entrance from the top of the hill, and a rough and difficult way from the bottom. It is a natural presumption that dwellers in the cavern had well-constructed though necessarily devious pathways of easy grade to both the top and the bottom of the hill; but owing to the loose nature of the débris on the outside slopes all trace of these, when abandoned or no longer kept in repair, would soon be obliterated by surface wash, landslides, and the roots of trees.
By the side of the upper trail, at the bottom of the sandstone ledge capping the hill, are many large blocks which have split off from this stratum. On the flat surface of two of these are about 25 figures, pecked into the stone apparently with a pointed flint implement. One of them measuring 6½ by 30 inches, shown in figure 11, bears some resemblance to a flying bird. All the others are of uniform design, an oval or elliptical figure with a straight line or bar passing through an opening in one end. These vary from 4 to 18 inches in length; two of them are shown in figure 12. Owing to the rough weathering of the stones accurate tracings were not possible, but the illustrations give a fairly correct idea of the inscriptions as they originally appeared.
The front part of the outer cave is partially filled with large rocks, gravel, and clay, which have fallen or been washed in. A window-like opening on the right, or south, side admits additional light. Near the inner end the cave divides, one branch going to the southeast and opening in the face of the bluff, the other turning north and terminating abruptly near the doorway, which is worn through its rear wall. A rough diagram (fig. 13) with some measurements is appended to show this cavern's peculiar structure.
A small amount of refuse on the floor suggested use of the outer cave for residence or shelter; but excavations at several points uncovered bedrock, with very irregular surface, at depths of 6 inches to 2 feet, the earth containing very little refuse and no ashes. On the talus at the entrance, and also at the bottom of the bluff in which the caves open, is much refuse which the inmates threw out as rubbish.
The front chamber of the main cavern is quite regular in form, going straight back like a vault for 80 feet, then turning abruptly westward with a width of 47 feet, the west wall making almost a right angle at the corner. The east wall abuts squarely against the rear; a narrow crevice leads eastward from their junction, but as this was filled with water and mud no exploration in it was attempted.
The floor of the front chamber, from wall to wall, and from near the front to within 27 feet of the rear, was entirely of ashes, no earth being visible until the extremity of these at either end was reached. The floor of the western extension is covered with fine earth, washed in, which gradually increases in volume until it fills the cave to within a foot of the roof. It was not examined beyond this point.
Measurements show these dimensions:
| Width of cave at mouth | feet | 64 | |
| Least width of cave, 24 feet from mouth | do | 45 | |
| Greatest width of cave, from doorway to branch in cave in eastern wall | feet | 74 | |
| Shortest distance from line of least width to line of greatest width, as given above | feet | 18 | |
| From mouth of cave to doorway | do | 51 | |
| Height of doorway | inches | 42 | |
| Width of doorway | do | 33 | |
| Length of floor of doorway | do | 56 | § |
| From mouth of cave to top of slope of ashes at rear | feet | 84 | |
| From top to bottom of slope of ashes at rear | do | 16 | |
| From foot of ash slope to rear wall | do | 27 | |
| Extent of ashes in turn of cave along foot of wall beyond corner of west wall | feet | 22 | |
| Width of these ashes, from foot of wall to the pool of water | do | 22 | |
| Width of cave from corner of west wall to east wall | do | 56 | |
| From corner of west wall to rear of cave | do | 47 | |
| Height of extreme front from floor at edge of bluff to most projecting ledge above | feet | 35 | |
| Height from shelf or ledge near front of east wall to general level of roof | feet | 14 | |
| Height from ashes to roof at middle of cave | do | 10 | |
| § This measure also represents the thinnest portion of the wall separating the main cave from the outer cave. | |||
The walls were, as is usual in caverns, somewhat irregular, there being a narrow bench or shelf along each side near the front, while projections and indentations alternated from front to rear. There were numerous small holes and crevices, enlargements of seams and joints by percolating water at an early stage in the cave's history. These furnish homes for various wild animals, and nearly all of them contain bones, sticks, and trash taken in by ground hogs and wood rats which seem to find much pleasure in carrying such things from place to place.
The work of excavation began at the extreme front of the cave, where the original bottom, a mixture of sand, clay, and chert gravel, had been exposed through removal of the ashes by winds and driving rain. Almost immediately rocks, large and small, fallen from walls and roof, were encountered and interfered greatly with the digging. In the upper foot of the clay were streaks of sand and ashes, among which a mussel shell and a flint chip were found; and the top of the clay was quite uneven, appearing as if carried and thrown here, as perhaps some of it was early in the occupancy of the cave, with the object of making a more even or level floor farther back. But this admixture was only superficial; below it, the material had all the appearance of a running water deposit.
A ledge extended along the east wall for 40 feet, with a width of 12 to 14 feet; at the inner end it was about 4 feet below the general level of the floor. At 8 feet below its top a second ledge projected from it, sloping toward the center, slightly for 8 feet then more rapidly for 10 feet farther, where it merged into the bedrock. Then came level, nearly smooth rock for 18 feet, to the foot of the slope of the west wall, 14 feet out from that side of the cave. This was probably the original drainage channel.
By the gradual erosion of new channels through the limestone and the consequent abandonment of old ones, subterranean drainage is continually altering its direction and force. In this way caverns may be left entirely dry, with bare floors; or may, especially if they receive the drainage of sink holes, be partially or even entirely filled with débris thus carried in. Like others, Miller's Cave has undergone such changes. It was begun by clear water; enlarged by erosion and by breaking down of walls and roof; presently clay, sand, and gravel were carried in; finally the water no longer flowed through the front, but found its way out in some other direction. In time the deposits became sufficiently dry to afford a good site for camps and for permanent occupation. There is no way of ascertaining the rate at which these changes took place; it may have required many centuries to make an appreciable difference in appearance; or, on the other hand, the transition from one stage to the next may have been rapid.
Along the foot of the ledge from the east wall the clay was only a few inches deep; farther out on the ledge, and on the projection extending from it, were layers of red sand. Occasionally a small patch of it appeared along the western side. Probably it was washed in among the last of the natural deposits.
There was considerable chert gravel mixed with the clay, making excavation as difficult and laborious as digging up an old, much-traveled macadamized highway.
The surface of the ashes sloped upward rather rapidly for a distance of 29 feet from the front. Kitchen refuse, found in them from the start, contained many mussel shells; bones, including those of bear, deer, panther, turkey, and other large fowls, tortoise, turtle, fish, and various small mammals and birds; potsherds; broken flints, with the débris of chipping work; mortars, pestles, hammers, and mullers. Near the west wall, 14 feet from the mouth, imbedded in the ashes and a foot below their surface, was a well-preserved cranium, shown in plate 17, e, f. There were no other bones, not even the lower jaw; it seems to have been thrown here and covered with the dumped ashes.
At 18 feet from the mouth the rocks became larger and so numerous as to be almost in contact, projecting above the ashes and imbedded in the clay down to bedrock; they extended for 22 feet farther in and to within 14 feet of the west wall. The clay attained its highest level at the beginning of this pile of rocks, having an elevation of 9 feet above bedrock; it became lower toward the interior, with its surface everywhere rough and irregular.
The rocks were too large to be either moved or broken up, and owing to the condition of the roof an attempt to reduce them by blasting would have been attended with great danger, so they were perforce left in place and as much as possible of the clay between and under them dug away. Beyond those near the front, others, not reaching the top, were found one after another buried in the clay; owing to their constantly increasing number, and to the inward slope of the east wall, the limits of the excavation gradually narrowed, hampering the movements of the workmen, and it was necessary to handle the earth two or even three times to get it out of the way. There was growing risk, too, of the projecting rocks splitting off or breaking out of the clay matrix. As some of them weighed several tons, the danger became too imminent, and efforts to continue along the bedrock had to cease.
Two other attempts were made to get to the bottom; one at 40 feet from the mouth just beyond the large rocks on the surface, and one at 15 feet farther in. The last one started on an area 8 by 15 feet, which would have been ample if the sides could have been carried down even approximately straight. Neither of these efforts met with success, for the same reason that led to the abandonment of the first one.
From here to the end, examinations were confined to the deposit of ashes. The surface, except as it had been disturbed by relic hunters, was practically level from wall to wall, but the depth varied with the undulating top of the clay beneath. Where it was deepest, in the central portion about 50 to 75 feet from the mouth, the deposit had a thickness of 6 feet. From this it diminished to about 3 feet on the sides, with an occasional thinner patch on a narrow shelf formed by a ledge or a crevice. The average thickness was close to 4½ feet, so the amount was not far from 800 cubic yards. This was composed entirely of ashes from small fires for cooking, heating, and lighting purposes, increased to a very limited extent by kitchen waste, and by discarded or mislaid wrought objects. It represented the combustion of many hundreds, perhaps of thousands, of cords of wood, all of which had to be carried in from the hilltop or slopes and passed through the constricted doorway. This labor would be a sufficient guarantee of economical use; we may be sure that no fuel was wasted. If proof were needed of such a self-evident proposition, it would be found in the almost complete absence of charcoal; here and there, but seldom, a small mass of it showed that a burning chunk, covered up, had smoldered until the inflammable portion was consumed. Bunches or handfuls of coarse grass or small weeds had undergone the same process. Perhaps these had been used as kindling.
In all the deeper parts the ashes had been dumped promiscuously, from fires made at other points; no camping fires seem to have been made along the middle of the cave until the depressions in the clay had been at least partially filled. The ashes in the upper 4 feet of the ash beds where these were deepest, and in nearly all the shallower portions, were stratified and usually level, though at the front and rear the strata followed the natural incline of the slopes. The first impression was that the ashes had been carefully spread out, or dragged, to make their surface even; but it was discovered, when shoveling some of them for the second time, that ashes may assume this appearance no matter how carelessly thrown. The ashes at the top, to a depth of 3 or 4 inches, were as fine as flour, and when shoveled back hung in clouds for hours at a time, to the great discomfort of the excavators, whose eyes, throats, and nasal passages were in a state of constant irritation. The stratified or laminated, hard-packed condition below the loose surface means, perhaps, that they were occasionally sprinkled and trampled by the occupants to prevent this trouble. Possibly they were covered with mats, skins, weeds, or leaves, in the parts where the inmates congregated. The loose, incoherent condition of the lower portions, which "shoveled like snow," may denote that only a few persons dwelt here at first, who found ample room on the higher ground near the doorway. However, all such attempts at explanations are not much better than mere guesswork, and we must be content with accepting the facts as we find them.
Where the ashes were white and packed hard, whether on the site of a fire or in thin layers where thrown, they contained very little extraneous material; whereas in the darker, more mixed material broken bones, potsherds, shells, and other refuse were abundant, while there was scarcely a cubic foot anywhere in which was not found a piece of flint or bone, sometimes several such objects, which had been intentionally altered from their natural condition.
Near the center of the cave was a curving pile, 6 by 2 feet, and several inches thick, of mussel shells of every size from less than an inch to above 5 inches in length; more than half of them were over 3 inches. None of them showed any marks of fire; some had both valves in position, as if they had never been opened, and a few of the larger of these had been filled with small shells and closed again. A few were broken, but most of them were entire. About 1,400 valves were in this pile, meaning that at least one-half of that number of mollusks were consumed.
The first interment was found at 46 feet from the front, 14 feet from the east wall. The folded skeleton of a very old person lay on the right side, head east, in loose ashes, on a large flat rock whose top was 30 inches below the surface. This rock had not been placed here, but had fallen from the ceiling; probably its existence was not known until it was uncovered in digging the grave. The skull still retained its shape, in part, being held in place by the ashes, but fell in pieces when this support was removed. A portion of it was gone; two fragments were found, several feet away, not near each other, one of which fits in the skull, and the other probably belongs with it also. The frontal bone is nearly half an inch thick; the sutures partially obliterated; the teeth worn down to the necks, some of them nearly to the bone; the forehead is low and receding. A restoration is seen in plate 20, a, b. In addition to the missing portions of the skull, most of the ribs, half of the lower jaw, and nearly all the dorsal vertebræ were absent, probably having been dragged away by ground hogs. The bones are all light and fragile. Lying above the skull, in contact with it but supported by the ashes on both sides, was half of a large mortar hollowed on both sides. Above the skeleton, and extending for several feet on every side, was an undisturbed stratum of closely packed ashes, 17 inches thick at the middle, which broke off under the pick in large clods; these, of course, had accumulated after the body was interred.
The spongy condition of these bones, in spite of the preservative action of the ashes, is evidence of the fact frequently noted, that with advancing age some change takes place which renders them less resistant to destructive influences. Bones of children only a few weeks old near this skeleton held their structure perfectly and were easily secured.
Ten feet east from the pile of mussel shells, at a slightly lower level, was nearly half a gallon of snail shells which had been boiled, probably in soup. With them were a few pieces of bones.
Scattered irregularly through the ashes were many cavities which somewhat resembled the "postholes" so common beneath the mounds in Ohio. Some were barely an inch in diameter and a foot deep; from this size they varied indefinitely to the largest, which was a little more than 3 feet deep, reaching from about a foot below the undisturbed layers just under the loose surface ashes to within about a foot of the bottom. "About" is used advisedly, because at this point neither the top nor the bottom of undisturbed material could be determined with certainty. The lower 2 feet of this cavity was uniformly 7 inches across; above this it slightly expanded, funnel-like, to a diameter of 8 inches at the top. The sides of this, as of all of them, large or small, were as smooth and hard as if made with a posthole digger or a boring tool. Strata of ashes, not changing their level or appearance in the least, were continuous around the margin. But the holes were not always straight; some of them changed direction as if due to a crooked post or stick. Nearly all of them were rounded, even hemispherical at top or bottom, or both, like the bottom of a pot. They were not molds, for nothing could have been taken out of them without changing or destroying its form. If they had contained any solid substance like a post it must have stood unchanged until the layers of ashes surrounded and covered it, and then must have so completely disappeared as to leave no trace of its existence. They were not formed by driving any object down, because in that case the bottom would not have been so regularly rounded and the ashes around the sides would have been more or less displaced. They were not due to burrowing animals. In fact, if there be imagined a nearly cylindrical mass of ice, straight or slightly crooked, with rounded ends, placed upright and retaining its position unmelted until completely buried, the appearance of these cavities will best be understood. Some of them were filled to the top with fine loose ashes which occasionally contained fragments of bone, shell, and pottery; sometimes they were nearly empty, with traces of decayed wood at the bottom, mingled with a little ashes and charcoal. In one was found a long, perfect bone perforator, shown at a in plate 30; in another near the corner of the west wall was found the pipe shown in figure 14. About 45 feet from the front near the east wall were four of them of different diameters and depths but all in a straight line within a space 2 feet long; these were in front of a crevice under an overhanging ledge where a man could not stand upright. Wigwams may have been erected in the cave, or at least skins stretched to prevent drafts or to confine the heat of fires in winter and perhaps to insure some degree of privacy if this were desired; but there are no present indications of such shelters unless these holes were to secure them; otherwise their purpose or object is still unsolved. They would probably not contain posts for hanging things on when the walls afforded so many small crevices and holes into which poles better adapted for such purposes could be thrust.