er 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 vertebrae
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 cours