xt7r222r5k4h https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7r222r5k4h/data/mets.xml Nelson, Nels Christian, 1875- 1917  books b92-33-26573498 English [s.n.], : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Kentucky Antiquities. Mammoth Cave (Ky.) Contributions to the archaeology of Mammoth Cave and vicinity, Kentucky microform / by N.C. Nelson. text Contributions to the archaeology of Mammoth Cave and vicinity, Kentucky microform / by N.C. Nelson. 1917 2002 true xt7r222r5k4h section xt7r222r5k4h 



ANTHgROPOLOGICtAL- PAPERS
                  O3F

  THE AbMERICAtN MUSE U M

    OFNE ATaURALS HISTO'RY

          VOL. WNXXfn P.ART IX


CO0NTRIBUTION'S TO THTE ARC:HAXEOLOGY OF MAMfMOTH ('-,AA7E
          AND VIC.INITY, KENTUCKY


               N. C. NESO,N






               ERIAN  

               NAT;.URAL
               HISIORY   X







       PUBLISHD BY ORDER OFi TH TRUSTEES
                  1917

 


American Museum of Natural History.

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                         (Continued on 3d p. of cower.)

 


ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS
                OF

  THE AMERICAN MUSEUM



   OF NATURAL HISTORY


         VOL. XXII, PART I


CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MAMMOTH CAVE
         AND VICINITY, KENTUCKY
                BY
              N. C. NELSON



       NEW YORK
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF TtrE TRUSTEES
         1917

 This page in the original text is blank.

 























CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF MAMMOTH
         CAVE AND VICINITY, KENTUCKY.

                 BY N. C. NELSON.

 This page in the original text is blank.

 






PREFACE.



   Cave archaeology has many incentives in America. In the first place,
this line of research has yielded unprecedented results in Europe and some
of the Old World investigators still persist in arguing that application on
our part would duplicate their own achievements. In the second place,
we possess an abundance of caverns and rock-shelters scattered over widely
differing sections of our continent and there is sufficient evidence also that
the aborigines have commonly made use of them. In the third place,
caverns furnish exceptional conditions for the preservation of artifacts of
all kinds. Consequently, one is strongly inclined to the opinion that
here, if anywhere, we may hope to find solutions for some of our archaeo-
logical puzzles - the use, for example, of such problematic objects as
banner stones, bird-stones, etc. Not only that but cave investigation may
reasonably be expected to yield many perishable artifacts that would serve
to verify and supplement our present notion, especially of the aboriginal
cultures of the eastern United States. In the fourth and last place, the
caves appear to hold the key to the archaeological problem - i. e., the
chronology - for several large and important continental areas. The
reason for this is that nowhere else can we be quite so sure of the validity
of stratigraphic results as in cave-floor deposits. Shell-heaps may be
almost equally satisfactory for certain coastal regions - and it may not
be untimely to remark that shell-heaps have not yet been adequately inves-
tigated. The ordinary earthmound, however, or the ordinary village site,
while it may furnish clues regarding the time sequence of particular traits
of culture, does not appear to be suitable for speedy and precise results.
Likewise our finds in drift deposits as, for instance, in the Delaware and
Ohio valleys - so promising and yet so baffling; if the effort devoted to,
these had been expended on caves and rock-shelters we should doubtless
long ago have had cleared up the issue involved.
   Most of these incentives have been apparent for a long time. There
can be no doubt, for example, that the remarkable European discoveries,
directly prompted cave investigations in this country by such men as
Professors F. W. Putnam, J. C. Merriam, Charles Peabody, W. K. Moore-
head, W. C. Mills, and others. At present a really considerable amount of
cave work has been done in America, extending from one extreme of the
continent to the other and ranging over a period of time dating back at
least to 1835. Various centers such as Patagonia, Brazil, Yucatan, our
own Southwest, Kentucky with adjacent states, California, and even
                                    3

 


4       Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXII,



Alaska have been tried out more or less thoroughly, but with what have
hitherto been regarded as essentially negative results. It might be profit-
able in this place to consider at length the history of American cave archaeol-
ogy and to cite a bibliography; but time forbids. Men and institutions,
one after another, appear to have taken up the work with enthusiasm and
after a few years to have given it up again. The difficulty, it seems to the
writer, has been that they have all expected too much. But while our
work has been sporadic it has not been altogether superficial nor without
value. We have learned enough perhaps to warn us against the sanguine
expectations of our European colleagues and, whether or not this may
account for the apparent neglect of the field, some of us are still convinced
that cave work should be continued.
   It was thoughts such as these that prompted the American Museum
to make a preliminary examination of some of the Kentucky caverns last
summer. The Mammoth Cave happened to be one of the sites chiefly
because the cave management some four or five years ago made us a
generous gift of archaeological material, including several choice textile
specimens, found in the Mammoth and Salts caves on their estate. Our
desire was to learn something of the conditions under which such perish-
able objects occurred, whether there might not be more, etc. There was
no real expectation of finding any essentially new data here because the
cave had been frequented for more than a century and in fact had been
studied by no less an authority than the late Professor F. W. Putnam him-
self. Indeed, it is probably not far from the truth to say that it was here
that Professor Putnam received the inspiration which turned him from
natural to anthropological science - making him the sponsor for archaeo-
logical research all over the American continent.
   The Kentucky region was deliberately chosen. For one thing it lies
south of the limits of glaciation. If the Indian was in fact present on the
American continent during the ice age he might as easily have inhabited
Kentucky and Tennessee as his contemporaries of the Old World did the
borders of the Pyrenean uplift. Geologically and topographically the two
regions are in many respects similar. In both cases we have limestone
formations deeply eroded and consequently abounding in caverns and rock-
shelters of great age. Moreover, this very limestone was the repository of
raw material of which people everywhere during the stone age stood in great
need, viz., flint. But aside from this attraction the country as a whole
in point of natural food resources seems to have been well suited to a primi-
tive non-agricultural mode of life. It was well stocked with fish and game,
to say nothing of vegetal products such as nuts, berries, and roots. The
primeval forest of the eastern section of the state may have been heavier

 

Nelson, Archaeology of Mammoth Cave.



than in the lower Pyrenean country; still, from all reports, it was less
impenetrable than the half-despoiled timber lands of today. At any rate,
the problem of getting about was not so difficult as might be imagined.
The same geologic forces that provided caves and shelters to accommodate
the primitive pioneers had also blazed avenues of communication for them,
because no equivalent section in the world is better served by navigable
waterways than is the commonwealth of Kentucky. Besides, the buffalo
began to roam the state in late prehistoric times, his deeply worn trails
connecting river-fords, salt-licks, springs, and open grasslands, following
usually the easiest grade or, in other words, the lines of least resistance,
thus giving rise no doubt to some of the local modern highways. Under
these circumstances one may readily believe that whatever the date of arrival
of aboriginal man in these parts and whatever events transpired during
his occupancy, the main facts are preserved for us, at least in part, in the
cave deposits.
   In securing the data to be considered I am under obligation first of all
to Judge Albert C. Janin of Washington, D. C., who as trustee of the Mam-
moth Cave Estate not only presented some of the material directly, but also
encouraged my own excavations. I am likewise indebted for helpful
assistance to Manager H. M. Pinson and to Miss Helen Randolph. In
working up the material I have to acknowledge assistance on several points.
Thus the shell species have been identified jointly by Curator L. P.
Gratacap of the Museum staff and by Dr. Bryant Walker of Detroit. The
animal bones were identified by Mr. H. E. Anthony and Miss Mary C.
Dickerson, also of the Museum staff. The text figures were drawn by Mr.
W. Baake and the plan by Mr. S. Ichikawa. Lastly I am indebted to my
wife for assistance in preparation of the manuscript.

                                                      N. C. NELSON.
August, 1917.



5



1917.'

 This page in the original text is blank.


 







CONTENTS.



PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

SURFACE SITES, MAINLY AROUND
   GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SITES
       Mammoth Cave Field
       Moonshiners' Cave Field
       Curtis Cave Field
     . Salts Cave Field
   CHERT ARTIFACTS DISCOVERED
       Miscellaneous Forms
       End-Scrapers
       Side-Scrapers
       Geometric Form
   CONCLUSIONS



CAVE ENTRANCES .



INTERIORS OF THE MAMMOTH AND NEIGHBORING
   EARLIEST DISCOVERIES, 1810-1820
   KENTUCKY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY DISCOVERIES, 1870-1875
   RECENT DISCOVERIES
   PRESENT DISCOVERDIS
       ARTIFACTS
          Summary List
          Woven Moccasins
          Worked Chert
       GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
   SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION



CAVES



ROCK-SHELTER NEAR BONE CAVE
   SITUATION
   GENERAL DESCRIPTION
   EXCAVATIONS AND RESULTS
          Relic-Bearing Debris and Contents
          Stone Grave and Contents
   GENERAL CONCLUSIONS REGARDING LOCAL
     REMAINS

MAMMOTH CAVE VESTIBULE
   SITUATION
   ORIGIN AND NATURE OF ENTRANCE
   AGE OF ENTRANCE
   DESCRIPTION OF THE VESTIBULE
   EXCAVATIONS IN THE VESTIBULE
       THE EAST SIDE TRENCHES: I-V
       THE WEST SIDE TRENCHES: I-V
   COMPOSITION OF CAMP REFUSE
       Animal Bones
       Fresh-water Shells



                         40
                         40
                         40
                       .41
                         41
   .   .   .   .   .   42
CAVE AND ROCK-SHELTER
                         43

                         45
                         45
                         45
                         46
                         46
                         47
                         48
                         51
                         53
                         54
                     .  55



PAGE.
     3

    9

    14
    14
    14
    14
    15
    15
    16
   16
    19
    21
    21
  22

    23
    23
    27
    28
    30
    30
  30
  31
    33
    35
    38

 


Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXII,



    HUMAN REMAINS DISCOVERED
    ARTIFACTS DISCOVERED
        OBJECTS OF BONE
           Awls
           Chipping Tools
           Projectile Points
           Tubes
       OBJECTS OF SHELL
           Spoons or Scrapers
           Pendants
           Unknown Form
       OBJECTS OF STONE          .    .     .
           Chipped Arrow Points, Spear Points, and Knives
           Scrapers
           Pestles
   ABSENT TRAITS OF CULTURE
   SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY



           PAGE.
   .   .    56
      .    56
         57
    .  .   57
   .   .    57
  .        57
    .  .   58
    .  .   58
    .  .   58
    .  .   61
   .   .   61
   .   .   61
      .   61
    .  .   62
    .  .   63
    .   .   64
         .   68
    .  .   70

         71



ILLUSTRATIONS.

TEXT FIGURES.



1. Chipped Implements from Surface Sites
2. Typical Chipped End-Scraper from Surface Site
3. Chipped Side-Scraper from Surface Site
4. Chipped Geometric Implement from Surface Site
5. Principle of Wicker Technique employed in Kentucky Cave Moccasins
6. Principle of Twined Technique employed in Kentucky Cave Moccasins
7. Roughly Blocked Out Implement from Flint Dome, Mammoth Cave
8. Scraper-like Implement from Flint Dome, Mammoth Cave
9. Stone Grave in Rock-Shelter on Green River near Bone Cave
10. Floorplan and A-B Section of Mammoth Cave Vestibule showing Extent
      of Camp Refuse and of Excavations
11. C-D Section across Mammoth Cave Vestibule at about One Hundred
      Feet from the Entrance showing Order and Nature of Floor Deposits
12. E-F Section of Mammoth Cave Floor Deposits at about Thirty-Two Feet
      from the Entrance
13. Projectile Point of Antler from the Mammoth Cave Vestibule
14. Artifacts of Bone from the Mammoth Cave Vestibule
15. Artifacts of Shell and Chert from the Mammoth Cave Vestibule
16. Small Side-Scraper from the Mammoth Cave Vestibule
17. End-Scraper from the Mammoth Cave Vestibule
18. Pestles from the Mammoth Cave Vestibule



18
20
21
21
32
32
33
34
42

49

50

52
57
59
60
62
63
65



8

 





INTRODUCTION.



   Most of the original data embodied in the following report were col-
lected by the writer in May and November, 1916. The additional items
were abstracted from a series of miscellaneous cave specimens presented
to the American Museum in 1913 by the Mammoth Cave Estate. The
latter collection comprises catalogue numbers 20.0-5763-5778, the former
numbers 20.1-136-216 and 99-7326-7331.
   A preliminary visit was made to Kentucky in the month of May. At
that time the writer held consultation with Professor Arthur M. Miller of
the State University at Lexington regarding suitable localities for investi-
gation. Professor Miller suggested among other places the Kentucky
River, or that section of it to the south of Lexington lying between Valley
View and Highbridge. He took the trouble personally to accompany me
to a small cave at the upper terminal, and I later went alone to verify con-
ditions at the lower end. This stretch of the Kentucky, like the middle
courses of the other rivers of the state, is cut deeply into a limestone forma-
tion underlying the gently sloping tableland. The gorge at Highbridge is a
little over three hundred feet deep and the towering palisades on either
side of the river have been so far eroded as to afford numerous ledges and
overhangs. A number of caves are also present, some of them, according
to reports, showing indubitable evidence of Indian occupation. Village
sites are likewise reported along the river, both on the plateau proper and
on the narrow strips of bottom land occasionally wedged in between the
river channel and one of the gorge walls. In such a locality the problem
of secure and comfortable shelter was easily solved. But whether the
Indian occupied the region, in particular the natural shelters, for any great
length of time can, of course, be determined only by excavation, and this
I found no opportunity to undertake.
   The second locality to be inspected and the one in which excavations
were later commenced, was a short stretch of the Green River in the vicinity
of Mammoth Cave in Edmonson County. Although nearly one hundred
miles southwest of the Kentucky River segment described above, the
general conditions are very similar excepting that caverns are here far more
numerous. Green River is a stately current running through a deep wind-
ing gorge and locally peculiar in that it is fed almost entirely from under-
ground sources - a fact intimately connected with the production of
caverns. The border country is again a plateau, forested and somewhat
undulating, but averaging about three hundred feet above the river level.
                                   9

 

10      Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXII,



This plateau is characterized in the first place by occasional outstanding
"knobs" and in the second place by numerous sink-hole basins.
   The knobs are eminences of a pyramidal character, sometimes several
hundred feet high and usually capped with sandstone, which register for us
in a rough way the amount of erosion to which the country has been sub-
jected. They are of special interest to the archaeologist chiefly because
many of them are natural strongholds and as such were occupied by the
Indians at least in relatively late times. As good local examples of these
knobs there might be cited Indian Hill I and Somerset Hill, the former about
twelve miles down the Green River and the latter about eighteen miles up
the same stream from Mammoth Cave.
   The sink-hole basins, on the other hand, are depressions in the plateau
surface resulting from the collapse of cavern roofs beneath. These basins
act the part of funnels in catching up all the rain waters which usually drain
through a vent in the bottom of each one and finally reach the river by de-
vious underground channels. The waters in passage dissolve and wear awa'y
the limestone, thus gradually weakening the formation until new collapses and
consequent sink-holes are added. This process of subterranean erosion has
been calculated to have been going on for one or two million years 2 until
the whole formation from the top of the plateau to the river level has been
literally honeycombed with caverns. The Mammoth Cave, for example, is
said to exhibit no less than five levels of galleries, the lowest of which is
near enough to the river level to be flooded by the back-waters of the spring
rise and therefore still in process of formation, while the upper is little more
than fifty feet below the plateau surface and in process of refilling.
   Without professing to deal with the geology in a technical way, it must
be obvious from the foregoing facts that the upper levels of these caverns
are exceedingly old. They are in the majority of cases both dry and com-
fortable, with a constant temperature of about 54 degrees Fahrenheit;
in short, peculiarly suitable for the accommodation of early man. Here he
could find protection from the elements as well as from pursuing enemies;
here he could store his provisions indefinitely and preserve the remains of
his dead; and here, finally, he was able to secure, in workable condition,
one of his greatest necessities, namely, flint. It should therefore be no
cause for wonder that many of the caverns-and rock-shelters in the vicinity
of Mammoth Cave, including that cave itself, give visible evidence of having
been frequented by the aborigines.
   The specific localities investigated in the Green River country embrace
caverns, rock-shelters and "flint sites," i. e., spots in the cultivated fields



I Putnam, (e), Vol. III, 62; Moore, 439, 487.
2 Shaler, 8.

 


1917.]              Nelson, Archaeology of Mammoth Cave.                   11

where worked and reject flints (strictly speaking, chert or hornstone), etc.,
occur in quantity. For the sake of brevity, as well as clearness, the princi-
pal stations and the nature of the archaeological material obtained from
them are presented in tabular form as follows:-



                                                                  IN1  .4
                                                                      a0

No.                 Name or Locality



t 1 Mammoth Cave vestibule                              _    
4 2 Mammoth Cave interior                                  ()           
43 Flint site in clearing above Mammoth Cave                    
4 4 Flint site in valley bottom below Mammoth Cave              
4 5 Dixon's Cave, near Mammoth Cave
4 6 Cave adjoining White Onyx Cave, near Mammoth
        Cave                                             () ()
t 7 Moonshiners' Cave, a mile below Mammoth Cave
         landing
4 8 Flint site on valley bottom opposite Moonshiners' Cave      
t 9 Bone Cave, ca. 5 miles below Mammoth Cave landing,
         right bank                                        ()
4 10 Rock-shelter, ca. 200 yards below Bone Cave, right
         bank                                                        
 11 Haunted Cave' ca. 6 miles below Mammoth Cave land-
         ing, right bank
 12 Cedar Sink, 5-6 miles southwest of Mammoth Cave            
 4 13 Rock-shelters (2) on the Napa farm, ca. 2 miles above
         Mammoth Cave landing, right bank                      
 14 Flint site on the Napa farm, ca. 2 miles above Mam-
         moth Cave landing, right bank                          
 15 Flint site in Eden Valley, south of Three Springs          
 16 Flint site and rock-shelter near Preacher Brown's
         house                                                  
 17 Flint site around Curtis Cave entrance, Eden Valley,
         ca. 2 miles east of Mammoth Cave                       ()
 18 Flint sites above and below Bedquilt Cave                  
 419 Salts Cave entrance and vestibule                    
 20 Salts Cave interior                                                    
 21 Flint site in field surrounding Salts Cave                 
 22 Lard Cave and field, 15 miles up river, near Rowletts   () ()



t Sites tested by investigation.
() Reported finds.

 

12      Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXII,



   All but the last-named situation are within a radius of six miles of the
Mammoth Cave. Within this area many additional but mostly nameless
places were indeed superficially examined with negative results, the sites
listed above being merely such as were either tried out by excavation or on
which positive data were obtained without prospecting. Yet the search
was by no means exhaustive, as was made apparent during 'the last few
days of my stay when reports began to come from various quarters about
"Indian caves," etc., though evidently some of these were outside the six-
mile limit.
   As may be observed in the table, the majority of the real archaeological
stations are characterized by the presence of flint artifacts and by little else.
The three or four principal exceptions are numbers 1 and 2, 10 and 19. Of
these the last-mentioned, viz., the Salts Cave, may properly be omitted
from detailed discussion. Several days were in fact devoted to work in
and around the entrance to this great cavern but no refuse deposits could
be located which had not already been turned over by previous investi-
gators. Consequently, there is nothing of importance to add to the pub-
lished observations on this site and the present new developments in the
local archaeological problem are based on data obtained at sites 1, 3, 8,
10, 17, and 21, in fact almost altogether on sites 1 and 10, i. e., the
Mammoth Cave vestibule and the small rock-shelter near Bone Cave.
   Before proceeding to the subject it seems necessary to call special
attention to the fact that the archaeological material to be presented comes
mainly from three different sources, namely: (1) the open fields around the
cave entrances, (2) the cave entrances proper, and (3) the cave interiors.
Unfortunately, these three groups of data are somewhat disparate pheno-
mena; that is to say, our understanding of their connections, cultu1ally
and chronologically, is incomplete. The relation of the cave vestibule
material to that of the cave interiors is reasonably clear; but there is no
telling where the surface material from around the cave entrances belongs.
In other words, the inner logic of our theme does not show where we should
begin or where end. Any one of several possible mechanical arrangements
is open to objections. Up to the present time nothing trenchant has been
published except on data from the cave interiors and it would seem most
natural perhaps to begin with that division of our subject already made
partially familiar. The historical perspective of the local archaeological
investigations is, however, deemed of secondary importance in a disquisi-
tion of this kind and it will therefore be ignored. The troublesome division
of our subject, i. e., the data from the surface around the cave entrances,
will be taken up first and disposed of very briefly by descriptions and
comparisons. Next we shall pass in review all the published and newly

 


1917.]            Nelson, Archaeology of Mammoth Cave.                13

gathered data from the interior of the caves and point out their close rela-
tion to the moundbuilder culture and their comparatively modern origin.
And finally, we shall turn to a more intensive study of the new line of data
discovered in the Mammoth Cave vestibule, which data seem to the
writer to be indicative of an older and more primitive stage of culture than
has yet been recorded in this section of the country.


 

14 -    Anthropological Papers American Museum of Na'ural History. [Vol. XXII,



    SURFACE SITES, MAINLY AROUND CAVE ENTRANCES.

    Among the "curiosities" offered for sale to the Mammoth Cave
visitors in 1916 were several arrow points and similar objects of chert.
Inquiry disclosed that the disposal of such things was once a fairly thriving
business and that certain individuals of the neighborhood have scoured the
surrounding country to keep up the supply. The places where the relics
occurred were spoken of as flint sites; and subsequent visits to some of the
nearest of these revealed them to be probably either village sites or work-
shops. Naturally, after being hunted over for two or three generations,
these places yield very few of the well finished and easily recognizable types
of artifacts; but the less specialized types, such as scrapers or the unfinished
forms of chipped blades, are still quite common. The most productive sites
discovered were numbers 3, 8, 17, and 21 of the table in the introduction
(p. 11) and all the specimens presently to be described were obtained at
one or the other of these four places.


                   GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SITES.

   Mammoth Cave Field. Site number 3 denotes the wooded slope and
the adjacent plateau directly above and east of the Mammoth Cave en-
trance.  Owing perhaps to a partial reforestation of the locality since
aboriginal days and possibly also to the more intensive searching on the
part of relic hunters, comparatively little archaeological material was to be
seen here. If the place was a village site, as would seem probable, there
were no distinct indications of any kind to prove it either in the way of
house sites, black camp dirt, broken pottery, or abraded stone objects.
Only about sixty worked and unworked pieces of chert were brought away,
but the fact that they occurred so close to the cave entrance seemed very
suggestive.
   Moonshiners' Cave Field. The locality given as number 8 (p. 11) is a
small semicircular flat partly enclosed by the first bend of the Green River
below Mammoth Cave Landing and situated directly opposite Moonshiners'
Cave. There is, however, no apparent relation between the flint site and
the cave other than that of juxtaposition, and the name has been applied
merely as a convenient designation. The situation seems strongly sugges-

 

Nelson, Archaeology of Mammoth Cave.



tive of a village site but the field has been under cultivation for a long time
and it may also have been flooded repeatedly so that no aboriginal traces
except chert fragments remain. At the time of the visit the field was in
grass and a workman and myself in the course of a half hour picked up only
eighteen more or less distinctly worked specimens; but, according to
common report, it was formerly a very rich site.
   Curtis Cave Field. Site number 17 indicates the little-known Curtis
Cave, located in the Eden Valley, roughly two miles east of Mammoth
Cave. The entrance to the cave is situated in an open cultivated field
close to the base of a low wooded hill and is choked up with alluvium so
that it cannot be traversed without a good deal of preliminary excavation.
The surrounding field for some two hundred yards in certain directions
is liberally strewn with fractured chert and apparently nothing else. To be
sure, reports were current that "pestles" and other things had been found
here; but while in the course of an hour's search we picked up over one
hundred pieces of worked chert we did not observe a single indication of
abraded stone work. This site is also known as one formerly rich in fine
chipped stone specimens and a large fairly exquisite but typical spear point,
said to have come from the place, was seen in the possession of a neighboring
farmer.
   Salts Cave Field. The last surface site to be specifically mentioned is
number 21 of the preceding table, viz., the field surrounding the entrance to
Salts Cave. This archaeologically well-known underground den is located
some three miles in a northeasterly direction from Mammoth Cave and in
surroundings that might be characterized as gently rolling country. In the
midst of an open field there is to be seen a clump of trees standing appar-
ently on a low hillock. Going up the incline and stepping in among the
trees one is unexpecte