d
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 debris 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 debris 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 cove