Archeological Investigations Part 4

ONYX CAVE (9)

Five miles southwest of Arlington, near the Boiling Spring in the Gasconade, is Onyx Cave, so named because much workable stalagmite occurs in it. It has a number of branches, some of which have been explored for several hundred yards without coming to the end. The entrance is 90 feet in width. A pile of talus at the front, lying partly inside the cavern, reaches nearly to the roof; it has a height of 26 to 28 feet above the level of the wet, muddy floor. Drainage is through a small aperture in the north wall, whose outlet is not known.

Apparently the bedrock lies at a considerable depth; it is not visible at any point in the steep ravine leading from the mouth of the cave to the river. Formerly a large quant.i.ty of ashes covered much of the inner slope of the talus, where it is protected from the weather; but most of them have been hauled away to scatter over the fields. They extend to a greater depth than any digging was ever carried. The cavern has long been a refuge for stock, and this, with the trampling of many visitors, has mingled all the superficial deposits, so that, while ashes may be seen mixed with the debris, no ash beds are now to be found.

There must be a very p.r.o.nounced cavernous condition in this vicinity.

At a number of places, even extending to a distance of 2 miles from Onyx Cave, the pa.s.sage of a wagon produces a rumbling sound, indicative of a cavity at no great depth. There are also many sink holes, some closed, forming ponds, others with free openings. They are so numerous that no one of them drains any considerable area. The largest of these sinks measures from top to top of its slopes about three-fourths of a mile long and half a mile wide. Around much of its margin are vertical cliffs; there are few places where descent is practicable. It is 300 feet deep, perhaps more; for when the Gasconade, more than a mile away, is at flood stage the water from it, backing through an underground pa.s.sage, breaks in at two different points not at the same elevation, and covers the nearly level floor of the depression, about 15 acres in area, to a depth or 15 to 20 feet.

Another sink, near this, is conical in form, a fourth of a mile across and more than 200 feet deep.

GOAT BLUFF CAVE (10)

Goat Bluff Cave, 4 miles west of Arlington, on the left bank of the Gasconade, is at the foot of a vertical cliff 50 feet high, the slope above rising about as much higher to the crest of the ridge. A few yards to the west is a slight ravine through which, with a little effort, the top of the hill may be reached. In front, the declivity, while steep as earth will lie, furnishes fairly easy pa.s.sage to and from the river which lies 200 feet below.

The entrance to the cave is an arch 30 feet high and 75 feet wide, facing a little east of south. The width holds nearly the same for 90 feet, whence it rapidly contracts to 20 feet; the roof meanwhile descending to 10 feet above the floor. The extreme rear of this chamber is nearly filled with large blocks of stone. At the front part the floor is several feet higher along the west wall than at the east; this condition being due to the combined action of acc.u.mulation from the ravine above mentioned and erosion by a little rivulet which emerges from a crevice 30 feet within the entrance and flows at the foot of the east wall. Beyond this the floor is practically level across the inclosed s.p.a.ce, with a slight and uniform ascent toward the rear. No evidence of rock bottom appears at any point.

A preliminary cut at the outer margin of the cave showed two distinct, sharply separated strata. The lower is a red or yellow clay containing much angular gravel such as usually results from disintegration of limestone in which chert is abundant. Above this is a deposit of very loose fine material. Toward the rear the upper deposit had been disturbed by "curiosity seekers," who reported finding much evidence of prehistoric occupation, such as ashes, charcoal, fragments of pottery, and worked flint, as well as several skeletons, the latter "in a sitting position." The last part of this statement is a mistake.

The bodies were closely flexed and placed on the side; the bones settled to the bottom of the grave, while the skull, if intact, is reached first by excavators and the conclusion drawn at once that it is "on top of the other bones." This error of observation is quite common among relic hunters, and is not unknown among student investigators.

In order to dispose of material removed in excavating, it was necessary to start a trench from the slope outside the mouth of the cave. As it progressed the substratum of clay became wetter and more difficult to dig. At 40 feet from the beginning, where the trench was 11 feet deep, the seeping water acc.u.mulated until it covered the bottom of the trench, so that no greater depth could be reached. A crowbar forced downward for 18 inches, as far as it could be driven, did not reach solid bottom. Not the slightest trace of human agency was found anywhere below the top of the clay, and from this point excavations were confined to the upper stratum, to which alone the following description is applicable.

This deposit was composed partly of fine loose earth, probably carried in by the wind and on the feet of persons and animals; partly of roof dust; and partly of ashes. A considerable portion of it was roughly stratified in layers of varying extent and thickness, though much of it was irregular, and it was mingled throughout with campsite debris.

Occasional layers of roof dust several feet across in any direction and of varying thickness, from a faint streak to 6 inches, so closely resembled ashes that many persons could not be convinced of its true character. Its occurrence in this manner indicates that during considerable periods the cave was unoccupied, or at most used only as a temporary refuge. The intermittent character of occupancy is also shown by the distinct segregation of numerous successive layers of kitchen refuse.

About 10 feet within the point where a vertical line from the front edge of the roof would meet the floor the skeleton of a very young infant was found above and in contact with two thick angular blocks of limestone weighing 300 to 400 pounds. These rested on the red clay and had fallen from the roof. The thickness of earth above the bones was about 3 feet.

Ten feet farther in, on the clay floor, under almost exactly 5 feet of undisturbed material, were five flat stones. Three were of sandstone, the largest about 25 pounds in weight, such as can be found in place only on top of the hill. They were carefully arranged for use as a fire bed; on and around them were potsherds, flint chips, animal and bird bones, and a bone awl. This was the greatest depth at which artificial objects were found; and their position shows them to be as ancient as anything discovered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.--Fragment of gla.s.s bottle from Goat Bluff Cave.]

At 25 feet in an interesting find was made. Eighteen inches below the surface of the floor, in a ma.s.s of mingled charcoal, ashes, mussel sh.e.l.ls, flint chips, and other aboriginal refuse, was a small piece of gla.s.s, apparently part of a bottle, shown in figure 5. Above it and extending for several feet on every side was an unbroken stratum of root dust from 2 to 4 inches thick. Above this, in turn were several thin, undisturbed layers of camp refuse, about 6 inches in all, and then 6 inches of the loose, incoherent surface earth. This discovery is susceptible of two interpretations. One is that between the date when Indians could procure articles from the whites and the date at which they abandoned this fireplace there was time for the acc.u.mulation of the given thickness of disintegrated material from the roof, the cave, or at least this part of it, not being used meanwhile for a habitation; then for the acc.u.mulation of several distinct layers of camp refuse; and finally for the depositing of the cave earth over it all. This hypothesis is unreasonable. While the rate of formation of either roof dust or stalagmite is extremely variable, so that it is not safe to predicate a definite antiquity for objects found beneath even a considerable thickness of either, at the same time the small area involved precludes the idea that a number of occupants sufficient to account for the volume of debris could have lived here unless we allow a much longer period than would necessarily elapse within the dates indicated. The other, quite plausible, interpretation is that the gla.s.s was dragged to the spot by a ground hog or other animal whose runway had become obliterated by settling of the loose material through which it was made.

The only purpose of elaborating this subject is to guard investigators against attaching too much importance to an article found under such or similar conditions, whether it be a "palaeolithic type," or an "object undoubtedly of European origin."

Thirty-five feet in, under three flat slabs whose upper surface was a little more than 3 feet below the floor, was an adult skeleton, on the back, knees flexed to the chest. The body had been laid in a cavity dug in the clay to a depth of 6 inches. The bones were well preserved and fresh looking, but light and fragile.

Forty feet in, 3 feet down, was a flat stone under which were two skulls. One, shown in plate 6, was perfect, with a full set of sound teeth; from the other, seen in plate 7, the lower jaw was missing. No other bones were found except two cervical vertebrae, belonging to the smaller skull. Undisturbed stratified ashes and roof dust were 30 inches thick above the stone.

To this point the trench was not dug to a greater width than 15 feet; it was now gradually extended to a width of 40 feet to include most of the central portion.

Sixty feet in, in the upper part of the clay, like all the human bones discovered, was a skull with the scapulae, a few ribs, and one arm bone. The lower jaw was missing, and two phalanges were inside the skull. With the scapulae was one of a much smaller person. Eighteen inches from these bones, and 6 inches higher, was part of a lower jaw.

At 50 to 60 feet in, on the clay stratum, lay a slab 10 to 12 feet across and of varying thickness up to 18 inches or more. It fell from the roof so long ago that the latter is worn and smoothed above it in much the same way as at other parts. At the east edge of this slab was a skull so soft and crushed that it could be taken out only in small fragments; the teeth were very slightly worn, though of large size. A few traces of other bones were found; not enough to identify. At the north edge of the slab were two skulls, one of which is shown in plate 8; the other, which belonged to a young person, is given in plate 9.

The limb bones, scapulae, and hip bones, with a few others, were in a small pile at one side; but neither lower jaw, no ribs, and only a few vertebrae were found.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 6 SKULL FROM GOAT BLUFF CAVE, PHELPS COUNTY, MO. a, Front; b, profile]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 7 SKULL FROM GOAT BLUFF CAVE a, Front; b, profile]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 8 SKULL FROM GOAT BLUFF CAVE a, Front; b, profile]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 9 SKULL OF CHILD FROM GOAT BLUFF CAVE a, Front; b, profile]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 10 FLINTS FROM GOAT BLUFF CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 11 BONE AND ANTLER IMPLEMENTS FROM GOAT BLUFF CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 12 BONE AND ANTLER IMPLEMENTS FROM GOAT BLUFF CAVE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 13 a, Cairn six miles north of Arlington, Mo.

b, Walled grave six miles north of Arlington, Mo.]

About 65 feet in, near the west side, an inverted pot which shows no marks of use was found in a ma.s.s of ashes filling a cavity the size of a half bushel, which had been dug in the upper deposit. Scattered here and there among the ashes were also some mussel sh.e.l.ls and broken deer bones; but the presence of these was probably not intentional, as the whole arrangement seemed to have the nature of a votive offering. This was the only perfect vessel found in the entire course of the explorations. It is of the ordinary "cocoanut form," and is represented in figure 6.

Seventy feet in was a skeleton, on the left side; the bones were soft and came out in small fragments. This was fully 6 feet below the present surface, but some of this earth was piled up from earlier excavations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--Pot from Goat Bluff Cave.]

Beyond this point the ground had been dug over to such an extent that further examination seemed useless, and the work was concluded.

Throughout the deposit of black earth, ashes, and roof dust were scattered irregularly arrowheads and knives of flint, some types of which are seen in plate 10; mussel sh.e.l.ls; fragments of bones from food animals; bone perforators, some of which are shown in plates 11 and 12; potsherds; hammers; pestles; two or three mortars; a grooved stone ax of granitic rock, presented in figure 7; and an abundance of flint chips.

There is a small cave near the top of the bluff facing the Gasconade, a short distance above the mouth of Little Piney. Within a few yards of the entrance earth and rock carried in from a sink on top of the hill fill the cavity to the roof. Water runs through after every hard rain.

Three small cairns, built of small stones, stood on the point of the bluff at the junction of Little Piney and the Gasconade. All are destroyed.

On the edge of a high cliff over the Gasconade, 2 miles north of Arlington, are three cairns, destroyed.

In Bryant's Bluff, facing the Gasconade 3 miles below Jerome, are two rock shelters, neither of them more than 20 feet across in any direction. In both are sh.e.l.ls, bones, and pottery; a rough stone hammer was found in one. Exposure of bedrock on the outside shows that the earth deposit in either is not over 2 or 3 feet deep.

On top of Bryant's Bluff are four cairns, all of them torn up. The extreme limit of the scattered stone is about 20 feet; so the cairns were probably 12 to 15 feet in diameter.

At the mouth of Turkey-pen Slough, 4 miles north of Arlington, is a terrace with steep banks on two sides, next to the river and to the slough. On this stood a village. Three house sites are plainly marked by the refuse around, and there may be others; vegetation is very dense. Mussel sh.e.l.ls and burned stones are abundant, and many flint implements have been picked up.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.--Grooved ax from Goat Bluff Cave.]

CAIRNS AT SUGAR TREE CAMP (11)