Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/15



first time I entered the Cave of Kesslerloch was in the summer of 1873, when on a botanical excursion. It was then completely overgrown with trees and shrubs; in fact in summer the interior was altogether closed to the chance passer-by. As I had been stationed at Thayngen hardly a year, the cave was entirely unknown to me, and probably would have remained so, but for the fact that the Alliaria officinalis flourished in the neighbourhood in great abundance and of unusual size, and this led me to it. I could not resist securing such specimens, and thus was in a position to notice the yawning background of the cavern through the bushes, where they were least dense. Having pushed with some difficulty through the foliage, I was not a little astonished to find that behind all this life and verdure I was surrounded by bare walls of rock. For some years past I had given much attention to geology and the study of prehistoric man, and I was strongly impressed with the idea that this cave, like those of other countries, might have been the abode of some of the human race in prehistoric times. I then formed the determination to make excavations. But the realisation of this intention had to be put off for some time. The summer and the autumn passed away, and the ground was already covered with light snow, when a lecture which I had to give on volcanos reminded me strongly of the resolution I had made, but which had well nigh faded away from my memory. I communicated my ideas to my colleague, Mr. Wepf, who confirmed me in my determination, and offered to join me in the excavation.

Thus on December 4 we went to the Kesslerloch with two of our older pupils, shovels and pickaxe in hand. The ground was already hard frozen, but by chance we dug a trench in a very instructive place. For some time we obtained none of the