Those familiar with archeological research in Europe will recall that through caves are found the most satisfactory evidences of the habits, food, and clothing of primitive man. These were used as places of abode or refuge, and from the debris and ash-heaps of the substrata of the cavern floors the antiquarian has acquired the most reliable information as to what manner of man he was, and how and when he lived. In the occupancy of caverns in America, there is no prehistoric period corresponding with the "Cave Period" of Europe. Many of the caverns of Kentucky were used by the aborigines  as depositories of the dead, and several show that they were used, at least temporarily, as places of habitation, or retreat from enemies in times of danger; yet this occupancy was not of great antiquity, but seems rather to have been contemporaneous with the mound-building period.
     In the limestone which lies below the coal measures of Kentucky is a remarkable development of cavern structure. The late Professor N. S. Shaler estimated that there is an area of at least eight thousand square miles where the subcarboniferous limestone lies in a position suitable to the formation of caves. The layers of this range in thickness from a few feet to three hundred and even more. In Edmonson and adjacent counties underground streams, the waters of which, charged with carbonic acid gas and aided by the mechanical action of particles of the sandstone above and pebbles from the flint beds of the limestone itself, have carved out, by a slow but irresistible process, wonderful caverns ranging tier upon tier, which for majestic size and beauty are without rivals. In Edmonson and Hart counties the writer has investigated three of the most wonderful of these caves, all in close proximity to each other, the entrances of which could be covered by an equilateral triangle measuring hardly more than three miles. These are Mammoth Cave, of world-wide reputation; Colossal Cavern, but recently discovered and noted for its magnificence, and Salts Cave, from which have been taken some of the most remarkable prehistoric textile fabrics and vegetable remains ever brought to light. Several other caves in this vicinity have also yielded relics of rare interest to the archeologist. In Short Cave, eight miles from Mammoth Cave, was found the so-called American Mummy, exhibited many years ago at Mammoth Cave and now deposited in the National Museum at Washington. Connected with Colossal Cavern is a small cave known as the Bed Quilt Cave, so named because of the finding there, some years ago, of an Indian mat resembling a quilt.
Salts Cave, the most prolific in prehistoric relics and rivaling even Mammoth Cave in the size and grandeur of its avenues and chambers, was known nearly one hundred years ago, and though often visited has never been thoroughly explored, and little has been written of its remarkable evidences of prehistoric life. In fact, apart from the few accounts of the so-called Mammoth Cave Mummy, published in the early part of the last century, no scientific study of cave life in Kentucky was undertaken until Professor F. W. Putnam, of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, together with members of the Kentucky Geological Survey, visited and partly explored Salts Cave, and gave to the world an account of some of the wonderful things which, through this cave, were traced to the people who inhabited Kentucky centuries ago.
There appears to be practically nothing written on the early discovery of this remarkable place. There is one date in the cave as early as 1818. It has been the custom of many visitors in these and various caves to inscribe by some method their names on the gloomy walls, and thus leave behind them evidence of their presence at a given period. The next date so far discovered is 1843, and this is accompanied by the names of persons who were well known in the vicinity, and recalled to have lived in the neighborhood about that period. No definite statement as to the discovery of Salts Cave can be found in any printed matter which is attainable. After inquiry among the oldest men now residing in that locality, including Squire O. P. Shackelford and Mr. A. B. Johnson, both of whom have lived all their lives near the place, it is probable that the first white man who ever saw the cave was William West, who it is said patented the land covering it about 1794. Squire Shackelford distinctly recollects his father telling him, when he was quite a young man, that the cave was explored first by Peter Kinser, who, upon entering it, remained in it a week examining its passages, and Squire Shackelford's wife found a moccasin in Salts Cave in 1851.
     The Mammoth Cave and other caves in the vicinity were explored for the purpose of securing saltpeter during the War of 1812, but Salts Cave, although containing large quantities of the elements from which saltpeter could be made, does not appear to have been invaded for this purpose. There are places in the walls of the cave which indicate that some kind of digging had been carried on, but it is the opinion of those who have been most observant of these matters that these excavations, which are quite extensive, were made by the prehistoric people. The condition of the walls now shows that the excavations were made with sharp-pointed instruments, such as are now found in the cave, similar to the sticks used for planting tobacco, cabbages, and other vegetables. In one portion of the wall there are disturbances of the earth which contains clay apparently akin to ochre. Markings on this clayey material show that it was scratched or torn loose by the use of sharp-pointed wooden digging implements.
     In 1893 Mr. Theodore F. Hazen, since deceased, and his wife opened a new entrance into Salts Cave more easy of access than that described by Professor Putnam, and nearer to the great central chambers and larger avenues of this wonder of Nature, and undertook a more thorough exploration of its labyrinths. From them we obtained many interesting relics, which aroused a desire to know more of this cave and the home life of the people who once occupied it. In 1894 the author first visited this place, gaining access by the Hazen entrance, which has since become closed by a fall of rocks and earth. Now the only available entrance is about a quarter of a mile from Sell's store, just within the Hart County line. The mouth, difficult and even dangerous of access, lies at the bottom of a deep sinkhole, and is but a few feet in diameter. A stream of water from a small spring above trickles over the entrance and into the cavern, quickly losing itself in the masses of rock which have fallen from the roof. This aperture, just sufficiently large to admit the body of a man, gives little promise to the explorer of the wonders awaiting him in this great temple of darkness and night.
     After entering this opening and descending a steep declivity covered with rough jagged rocks, the main avenue is reached. Stretching away for miles, this is covered with great masses of stone fallen from the roof above. At the time of the occupancy of this cave by the prehistoric people, there may have been another entrance known and used by its inhabitants. About the present entrance numerous spalls, flakes of flint, pestles, axes, awls, and other implements have been found, indicating that a prehistoric village was located at this point. North of the entrance about a mile and a quarter are other traces, which show that a village site at some time was located there.
     This cave is perfectly dry in all its three tiers, with two exceptions—the spring which pours through the entrance and which loses itself a short distance away, and a small spring at the far end of the cave, several miles from its mouth. Close to where the spring enters at the mouth of the cave, at the foot of a rather steep acclivity, we found a large bed of ashes. Upon digging into these ashes, over a space sixty by fifty feet, they were found to vary in depth from two inches to two feet. They covered human and animal bones. These bones seem to have been cast in without regard to any particular order. Several skulls were obtained, and quite a number of lower jaws in which the teeth were yet intact. A large proportion of these jaws indicate that in life they were part of the bones of young people. In several the second set of teeth had not cut through, but were found under the milk teeth. At this point there is some dampness in the soil and the bones were not well preserved, and when exposed to the air and touch quickly crumbled. The remains of the animals found at this place were in a much better state of preservation than the bones of the human beings. These human bones were in the crevices between the stones. Above them were ashes, placed either by design or accident, and on top of these ashes fires had been kindled. It is therefore uncertain whether the people who built the fires knew of the existence of the bones.
     Along the main cavern for several miles are numerous fireplaces and ash-heaps; occasional small piles of stone, evidently placed to hold fagots, used in lighting; innumerable partly burned torches of cane reed, and even the footprints of the men who, hundreds of years ago, walked along these majestic avenues. The cave contains a large amount of saltpeter, and has a mean temperature of fifty-four degrees. The atmosphere of the interior is dry and pure, and this, together with the nitrous matter in the earth, has produced conditions favorable to the preservation of all kinds of materials. About the hearths and fireplaces were found hundreds of fragments of gourds, and also some shells of the ancestral forms of the cultivated squash, both of which were in an excellent state of preservation. Torches of reed, to be counted by the thousands, which had been filled with grease or soaked in oil, traces of which may still be seen on some specimens, appeared as if they had been cast aside but yesterday. Along the main avenues and the second or lower layer of caves, as well as in many side avenues, these torches were found. Those who have spent much time in this cavern say that they have discovered no places where these and other traces of aboriginal man are absent.
     Among the most interesting discoveries were a number of neatly braided slippers or sandals, and fragments of textile art. Several materials seem to have been used in the manufacture of these. Some were made of the fiber of the cat-tail or Typha, a plant which grows abundantly in the ponds in the southern part of the State. Others were woven of the inner bark of trees, probably the papaw and linn. Still others were made of what appears to be the fiber of wild hemp, and yet others from a species of grass which grew in great abundance on the Barrens of Kentucky.
     The sandals show several distinct forms of braiding; the material of the more delicate and graceful appears to be the wild hemp, and the plait on the outer side exhibits a beautiful triangular figure. They have raised sides from the heel to the toe, the braids being worked forward, uniting in a seam in the middle line above the toes. Over the instep many were laced with cords, the lacing still being preserved in some of the specimens. Frequently long ornamental tassels were placed above the instep. These slippers are found in the crevices of the rock and on the ledges in out-of-the-way places, where they evidently had been cast aside by these people. All show signs of wear at toe and heel. Several display a more or less skillful attempt on the part of the owner at mending or darning. This was done sometimes with cord, but frequently with bark. In size they vary from small ones, made for children, to specimens corresponding to a number seven shoe. Their form indicates that the wearers had short, broad feet, somewhat smaller than those of the men of to-day.

Figure from Page 302 - Moccasins from Salts Cave

Page 302 illustrates several varieties of these sandals. The manufacture of these articles was carried on extensively in the cave, as is well attested by the large quantities of raw material discovered, much of which is strewn around the floors, some neatly tied up in small bundles of convenient size. A short while since a child's moccasin similar in most respects to those described above was found in Mammoth Cave. This slipper is so thoroughly preserved as to be capable of being handled and even doubled up without injuring any of its parts, demonstrating that there must be some substantial difference in the atmospheric conditions in Salts and Mammoth Cave. An illustration of this slipper will be found on page 301.

Figure from Page 301 - Moccasins from Salts and Mammoth Caves

     Professor Putnam found a piece of cloth about one foot square, woven of the inner bark of some tree. This fabric was especially interesting, showing that it had been dyed with black stripes, the corner exhibiting a place where it had been mended or darned. A mat about one yard square was discovered several years ago in a chamber of the lower tier of the cavern known as Mummy Valley, so called because there was found there many years ago, by Messrs. Cutliff and Lee, the body of a young woman of this lost race.
     Among the most interesting of the writer's finds are the braids which were evidently prepared for ornamentation of their clothing. These were made with three, four, and five threads, varying in shape from flat to slightly oval and box-shaped. Four well-defined pieces of cloth, which would appear to have been parts of some garment, have been brought out and are in a practically perfect state of preservation. One of these recent finds, which is now in the author's collection, is a piece of cloth which carries a white stripe at regular intervals. The method of use of this particular white piece of woof shows that it was bleached before weaving, and both sides of the cloth are exactly of the same appearance. The warp apparently has been made of twisted thread of cat-tail, while the woof or cross-thread is made of hemp. The white thread, which was the filling or cross-thread, runs in parallel lines through the fabric, three eighths of an inch apart and with absolute regularity. The strands of warp were apparently interlaced with each other and the cross-thread, and this was done with great evenness, as much so as if woven with the machinery of the present time. As they had no material from which white thread could be prepared, it is apparent that by some process they bleached this woof or cross-thread white before it entered into the body of the material. Black dyes would not be difficult. Red dyes might be easily obtainable, but the bleaching process used in producing the white thread would not be so easy. An illustration of this cloth will be found on page 303.
    

Figure from Page 303 - Specimens of cloth  from Salts Cave

      The author discovered a number of pieces of plaited rope and small strings or cords of twisted fibre, many containing knots. A piece of the rope showed that it had been broken and spliced. It is interesting to note the several kinds of knots that were tied by these people in the various work which was done in the cave. The ropes have something similar to our sailor's knot. The fagots were tied with what we call hard knots, that is, by two wraps and pulled together; occasionally by well-formed bowknots, such as we now tie in cords and shoestrings.
     There were also found a partially burned torch, consisting of three reeds bound together with bark; a bundle of fagots tied with the same material; pieces of wood showing the marks of cutting instruments of stone; a small digging implement resembling the dibble used by truck farmers in making holes for setting out tomato, tobacco, and cabbage plants. Another wooden implement was found about two feet long, pointed at one end, and bore the appearance of having been used for digging in the earth; pieces of mussel shell, showing much use as cutting or scraping tools; dishes and vessels made of segments of gourds, several of which had been cracked and were mended by holes bored on either side of the fracture, through which a cord was passed, binding the parts together tightly. One half of a well-formed bowl or platter made of sassafras wood was also brought out. Professor Putnam, in his explorations, discovered a similar specimen. Many years ago, in a chamber in Mammoth Cave, was found a wooden bowl, which for a long time was preserved in the museum of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, and which is probably the same mentioned by Mr. Gratz and given by him to Doctor Mitchell more than seventy-five years ago—possibly the one from which the Wooden Bowl Room takes its name.
About two miles after leaving the mouth, under a shelving rock, was found firewood, as much as a wheelbarrow load, cut or broken to uniform lengths. After this firewood had been piled under the shelf where now found, a stone was placed in front of it in order to hide it from others who might pass that way. All the conditions surrounding it would indicate that some one of the people who lived in the cave had prepared this for his own personal use, and fearing that it might be taken from him had covered it over with the stone standing up against the other ledge, so as to conceal its presence from the ordinary observer. Here through the ages it had remained undisturbed and unused. The man who reduced the sticks to proper length for use at the family cooking-place lost out in the darkness, or maybe in some battle, and the man whom it was feared would appropriate the ready-made fuel never came, and it remained hidden until the paleface successor of landed title came into the cave to search for traces of his red-skinned predecessor, and so, centuries after, the prepared wood reveals the domestic habits of the men who had passed into the oblivion of ages.
     One of the most recent finds under the direction of the author is a squash cup. The squash seems to be less preserved than the gourd shells. The squash had been cut in two and about two thirds of it left, which had been nicely cleaned out, the top of the shell or rind smoothed, and it had been used for a drinking cup, as the modern people used gourds, only it would have no handle. An illustration of this unique cup is found on page 318.

     There was also found a gourd bottle. This was made from a gourd of unusual form, and was not the same as the sugar-trough gourd from which most of the fragments that have been found in the cave have been taken. It is a gourd unknown at the present time. It is harder and smoother than the sugar-trough variety so familiar to the Kentucky housekeeper sixty years ago. At the top of the gourd had been made an opening two inches in diameter, perfectly round and smooth, well shaped, and which showed that this had been used most probably as a drinking vessel or sort of canteen. It is six and one half inches in height and has a capacity of half a gallon. (See page 320.)

     A large gourd vessel recovered, which was probably half of an average sugar-trough gourd, plainly shows one method this people applied in cooking their food. On the inner side of this utensil, just at the point where the water would reach its greatest height, there are indentations or depressions and several charred spots, and these spots or depressions are evidently made from some hard and hot substance pressing against the walls of the vessel at that point. We are therefore safe in saying that the vessel was filled with water, heated stones were put into the water, and it was easy in this way to produce, in the gourd dish or pot, boiling water, which could be used in preparing corn, squashes, beans, and other vegetables for table use.
     In January of the present year was discovered in the lower avenue of the cave a beautifully woven bag, resembling the old-fashioned reticule. It measures twelve inches in length by eight inches in depth, and has two handles of plaited cord and several loops about the mouth, evidently designed for the passage of cord or perhaps a stick in order to keep the mouth closed when filled. When first seen this interesting relic was lying upon the floor of the lower passage beneath a fissure leading to the upper gallery, through which it had evidently been dropped by the owner, who, unable to descend through the crevice, which was not large enough for the passage of the body, and not knowing a way to the chamber below, had given it up as lost. It was filled with small pieces of gypsum, and when picked up by our guide, the weight caused it to break and fall to pieces. Though badly damaged the fragments of this remarkable relic were carefully taken up and preserved. This bag is similar in many respects to the one described, by Mr. Merriam as having been seen by him in 1815 with the mummy at Mammoth Cave.

     On page 304 is shown a small bag in an excellent state of preservation. About the mouth, which extends from side to side, is an ornamental border. The guide insisted that this is not a bag, but a cap or headdress. Near this article were found a number of feathers of the wild turkey and of the eagle, many of which have been cut off near the end of the quill, and some have holes through them. Among the most pathetic finds in this cave is a little reticule made of fiber of the wild hemp. This little bag measures two by two and one fourth inches. The cord or string which closed the top is in a perfect state of preservation, and the bag itself has neither a tear nor rent. This piece of hand work indicates that maternal and paternal love was as strong and watchful among the inhabitants of the cave as can be found at the present period among civilized people. The care and patience required in the production of this little receptacle, evidently used by the children, would mean as much expenditure of time and labor to these prehistoric people as the silver mesh bag of this day would demand from the father or mother who were providing for their offspring something in which to carry their childhood's treasures.
     Very recently there have been brought out two articles which first had the appearance of baskets, but those who have seen them insist that they are hats, and were used for wear on the head, either by men or women. They are made of split cane, woven with great regularity, the strips being a little more than one eighth of an inch in width. One of them when found was in a perfect state of preservation, but as soon as exposed to the outer atmosphere lost its power of resistance and dropped in the center, but without materially injuring the material from which it had been made. An illustration of the larger of the two articles will be found on page 311.

They are remarkable in the regularity of the pieces of cane which entered into their forms. They were made of strips from the outer surface of cane.
 

     Near what is known as Cumberland Gap was found an unusual object (see page 317). Resting against a ledge or shelf of rock was an aboriginal ladder, just as it had been placed centuries ago. It was made from the trunk of a small oak tree, and was five feet in length and three inches in diameter at the lower end. Five limbs, extending at an angle of about sixty degrees from the trunk, had been hacked or beaten off with a blunt implement such as a stone ax or celt, leaving some four to six inches projecting. The lower end or body of the tree showed that it had been felled by fire, while the upper end also indicated the application of fire. A smoothness upon the projecting limbs tells that this object had seen much service. Upon a ledge near by, in the cave dust, undisturbed for many centuries, were found several footprints, so distinct as to show that they were made by one shod with the braided cloth slippers of which this cavern has yielded so many. Since the shorter ladder was brought out, another has been found made from a small cedar tree or limb, being twelve feet in length, and discovered in the position in which it had been placed by these people when they ascended from a lower to an upper ledge.
     In many places in the cave, along the paths over which these people traveled in their journeyings through its passages, the stones upon which they stepped have been worn smooth and slick. As those who traveled along these paths used braided slippers, it must have required an immense number of steps to have worn down the stone surface to the smooth condition in which it now exists. This would indicate either that the cave was inhabited for a very, very long time, or was filled with a large number of people at some period of its past. In interior chambers, heretofore unvisited by the white man, our guide observed many footprints upon the surface of the floor.
     Stone implements are exceedingly rare in Salts Cave. A notched flint ax, a chisel-like celt, a pestle, and several arrowheads comprise all our finds. Pottery ware is also scarce, but near one of the fireplaces, probably used for culinary purposes, was found an earthen vase. In this had been placed a human bone, which had evidently been put there before thoroughly dry, probably while flesh was upon it. The stained sides of the vessel showed that it had absorbed some of the oil from the bone, and cave rats, in their search for food, finding the vessel containing the bone, had gnawed both the bone and a portion of the side of the vessel.

     A complete demonstration of the fact that these people had different kinds of corn is shown by the cobs found now on the floors of this cave. Pictures of three of these are reproduced on page 312, and while men of the present age are disposed to magnify the superb corn products of this particular period, one of these cobs measures eight inches, and would be a fair exhibit in a corn show of 1910. These cobs render it certain that they had at least three different varieties, one the larger grain, probably white corn, a second more like stock corn, another closer and shorter, similar to our sugar corn. All these cobs indicate that the corn grown so many hundreds of years ago in Kentucky was not greatly inferior to that which is being produced at the present day.
     A sunflower head was picked up in a reasonably good state of preservation, but the seed had entirely withered. All the substance in the seed pod had disappeared. Part of a sunflower stalk was found, measuring two and a half feet in length. Vast quantities of wild grapes had been carried into the cave. The stems are found now scattered along the floor, in a fair state of preservation. These were the wild fox grape so common in all Kentucky forests, and which, with the coming of frost, when fully ripened, are pleasing to the taste and extremely nutritious. There was also found a melon rind, apparently of the watermelon. Upon exposure to the atmosphere it disintegrated, aud unfortunately was dropped from the table and broken into fragments. Numerous seeds of watermelon were found scattered along the avenue, and in such position and condition as to show that the melons themselves had been eaten by these cave-dwellers. A careful examination of the human excrement, now discoverable in several parts of the cave, shows that sunflower seed was an important part of the diet of these cave-dwellers. Watermelon seeds were also present, and here and there a fragment of a hickory-nut shell.
     This cave has surrendered absolute demonstration of the growth and use of tobacco in Kentucky at a period contemporaneous with the Mound Builders. Mr. Samuel G. Tate, in exploring its labyrinths at my solicitation, picked up three pieces of leaf tobacco. (See page 325.)

     It was found in close proximity to the places where the inhabitants of the cave had their workshops, fires, and domestic gatherings. This find is probably the oldest specimen of tobacco in the world. Amidst the darkness and isolation of this weird underground habitation, covered with the cave dust and preserved by the meteorological and chemical condition of its gloomy chambers, it has lain untouched through centuries, but now, exhumed and brought out into the light of the sun, it is a mute but indisputable witness to the joy and pleasure of the mysterious inhabitants of this dismal abode, where night never ceased, in the soothing and sedative influences of what these people doubtless esteemed one of the Great Spirit's best gifts to man. When first handled it was as soft and pliable as buckskin, but upon exposure to the outside atmosphere became stiffened and brittle, and upon touch would crumble into minute fragments. With it was what experienced judges of tobacco say is the seed pod. This would indicate that the entire plant was cut off and carried into the cave.
     The only thing to produce life brought out of this cave was the seed of a gourd. In 1894 Mr. Hazen found near the fires and the other remains which evidenced a particular place of abode, a large sugar-trough gourd high up on a shelving rock. The vessels, dishes, and thousands of fragments found in the cave were almost exclusively from this sugar-trough variety. The dust of ages was on this gourd when discovered. It was given to the author and was placed in his cabinet. About 1900 it was thought possible that the seed of this gourd might germinate. The extraordinary preservation of the gourd dishes and cups in this cave without apparent disintegration, and in as good condition as a gourd which would have been exposed for a year to the outside atmosphere, induced the hope that possibly in the dry atmosphere, and preserved by the impervious qualities of the gourd shell or rind, the seed from this specimen might retain vitality, and thus we would be able to reproduce the exact gourd which these people had used so many hundreds of years before, in the habitation of this cavern. This type of gourd contains usually about five hundred seeds. When taken from the gourd these seeds appeared to be firm and hard, and when opened, apparently were yet capable of germination. The statement was made through the Louisville Courier-Journal that these seeds would be distributed to such persons as might ask for them, and quickly they were scattered all over the United States. Ten gourds would not have supplied the demand, showing extraordinary interest in the reproduction of this ancient melon. The supply of seeds was quickly exhausted. One hundred of them were planted in the immediate vicinity of Louisville, and of these, four produced small vines. One alone survived the dangers incident to young gourdhood, and this had been planted on the farm of Mr. Henry Schmutz, on the Seventh Street Road, a mile south of Louisville. It exhibited great vitality, and grew with a rapidity which indicated its close relation to Jonah's gourd itself. But fertilization was slow. No little gourds appeared, and the season was well advanced when one small melon at last developed and began to expand. It soon became apparent that Jack Frost would not allow this little gourd to mature so as to produce well-developed seed, and the author, unwilling to be outdone by Nature, took hotbed sashes and built a glass house over the gourd vine, so that by prolongation of the season the seed might be sufficiently protected to mature and grow another crop. This effort was successful. From this gourd hundreds of others have been produced. This year the author had fifteen. A history of this remarkable find was written for the Western Farmers' Almanac, and so curious were the public in regard to the study of its gourdship that a number of persons have applied for seed, so that they may see for themselves the manner of gourd that was grown around Salts Cave probably a thousand years ago. An illustration of the original gourd brought from Salts Cave in 1894 will be found on page 319.

     The conditions in this cave indicate that it was used by these prehistoric people through a long period of time, but it is improbable that the abode was continuous. It would rather appear that it was held as a place of refuge. If the cave is in the same geological condition now as when inhabited, the water supply must have presented great difficulty. It is not reasonable to believe that so large a number of persons would leave the pure air and sunshine and take up a continuous life in the absolute darkness of this tremendous cavern, where only their fires and greased cane reeds could be relied on for light.
     Thousands of stones have fallen from the ceilings. These fallen stones in places obstruct the passages, and the main avenue was at one time completely blocked and can only be passed now by a long detour through a side avenue. On these are found ashes, charcoal, and other evidences of fires. When this top layer has been removed, under it is now discoverable another set of fallen stones, and on these had fires likewise been built, and there yet exist ashes and charcoal, the remains of fires which antedated the last dropping from the roof of the chamber. It is reasonable, therefore, to conclude that the time covered by these two falling rocks must have embraced a period reaching over many years.
     The remains in the cave indicate that its inhabitants were largely vegetarians, and that they subsisted on agricultural products. Except at the mouth of the cave there are no evidences that these cave people used animal food. At this single point the ash-beds contain large bones, which have been split for some purpose, probably for the marrow, rendering it certain that flesh of some kind was eaten. Many bird bones make it almost sure that they fed in part upon that kind of food. These people resided only a mile from Green River, which is yet considered the best fishing stream in Kentucky. This would make a fish supply certain and continuous. The presence of mussel shells would also indicate that they were not ignorant of the use of this bivalve for food.