edge of the roof, 3½ feet under the surface of the débris, which was a
foot lower here than at the highest point, was a bundled or bunched
skeleton; only small fragments of arm and leg bones, most of the lower
jaw, a little of the upper jaw, and traces of skull were remaining.
The bones were small but solid. They were packed tightly in the dark,
wax-like clay, but there were no indications of a grave; the earth in
contact with them could not be distinguished from that lying around
them. The body had been crowded into the smallest possible space, with
the head against a large stone. All the teeth were well preserved,
some of them not at all worn. Small fragments of deer bones were found
among the remains; these, also, were very soft and decayed.
In fact, all bones found, whether human or other, in this wet, tough,
heavy earth were nearly destroyed, and such portions as remained had
but little more consistency than the mud in which they were imbedded.
Much care was necessary in order to get them out.
Sixteen feet from the entrance, 13 feet from the east wall, 4½ feet
down, 18 inches above bottom, were part of a large femur and a few
fragments of other bones too small and crushed to identify.
Seven feet southwest of this femur, 14 inches lower, was a closely
folded skeleton, the skull nearly north, the other bones toward the
east wall. Some mussel shells, fragments of deer bones, and two flint
knives were near the head. The body had been placed in a shallow hole
dug in the talus as it existed at that time, some earth thrown over
it, and small rocks piled on. The covering rocks were under 3 feet of
detritus, washed in since they were placed there. Near the knees was a
piece of antler, neatly perforated, with rounded ends, giving it the
shape of a reniform bannerstone (fig. 8). This may have been an
ornament, an arrow-shaft straightener, or the holder for a drill or a
fire-stick. Near it was a polishing stone deeply worn on both sides
(fig. 9).
Twenty-two feet within the reentrant curve at the front, 20 feet from
the west wall, at the bottom of the talus, was a skeleton, the skull
in small fragments, which, however, were held in place by the tough
clay. The teeth were worn below the enamel in places; two well-worked
flint knives and one rough one (fig. 10) were near it. The bones
looked as if they had been thrown in, occupying only a small space;
but probably a folded body had been laid in on the left side.
At 24 feet from the entrance, 17 feet from the west wall, in a hole
dug to 20 inches below the present surface of the talus, were broken
and spongy bones of an adult. Pelvis, feet, and leg bones were in
confusion; the tibiæ were reversed in position, but it may be that the
body was laid on the back with the knees flexed and that the bones had
fallen as they were found. This is probable, as each patella was where
it belonged, and the body lay extended toward the southeast, as shown
by the position of the skull. The humerus was about 12 inches long;
all the bones were in small pieces. There were many mussel shells
among and above the remains, over which earth and small rocks had been
piled.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Perforated object of antler from Sell
Cave.]
Two feet south of this skeleton and a few inches lower were the
crushed and decayed bones of an old person with the head lying toward
the east. The one tooth found (a molar) was worn entirely below the
enamel except for a small space at the front; the dentine was polished
until it resembled a piece of agate. Mr. De Lancey Gill first remarked
the fact that wear of this character denotes that the individual did
not gnaw bones, crack nuts, or indeed bite hard on any substance. If
he had done so this thin shred of enamel would have broken off. Two
large rocks which lay on the head and body seem to have been thus
placed before the grave was filled with earth.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Rubbing or polishing stone from Sell
Cave.]
Near these bones were fragments indicating three other interments; the
humerus of the last was perforated.
Other arm bones found showed the same olecranal perforation.
Twenty-one feet from the entrance, 19 feet from the east wall, was a
skeleton, closely folded, on left side, head toward rear of cave. The
teeth were worn flat. The bones were crushed by rocks laid on or above
the body at the time of burial, as was the case with all the skeletons
found in this part of the cave; probably timbers had been interposed.
[Illustration: PLATE 18
TEETH FROM SELL CAVE AND OTHER CAVES, SHOWING MANNER AND AMOUNT OF
WEAR]
[Illustration: PLATE 19
TEETH FROM SELL CAVE AND OTHER CAVES, SHOWING MANNER AND AMOUNT OF
WEAR]
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Flints from Sell Cave.]
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.
PHILLIPS CAVE
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.
BELL'S CAVE (18)
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.
CAMP-GROUND CAVE
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
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.
GRAVES NEAR MCKENNAN'S
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.
ROUBIDOUX CAVE (19)
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.
RICHLAND CAVE (20)
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.
ROLLINS CAVES (19)
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.
MIX CAVE (21)
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.
DOUBLE CAVE (21)
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.
RAILROAD CAVE
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, OR PAGE, CAVE
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.
TUNNEL CAVE (22)
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
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
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.
LANE'S CAVE
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.
DRY CREEK CAVE
A cave on Dry Creek, north of Lane's Cave, is small and almost
inaccessible. Never used.
HOUSE MOUNDS (23)
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.
RIDEN'S CAVE
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.
SALTPETER CAVE