Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/19

Rh when the percolated water within them froze, became cracked, and then crumbled; and thus gradually in the course of many centuries a bed of rubbish was formed of various degrees of thickness. This bed extends more especially in front, where the rocks were more exposed to the weather, and here its greatest thickness amounted to from 47 to 55 inches, while behind it gradually became thinner, so that in the middle it was about 41 inches thick, and in the further northern chamber only about 3$1⁄2$ inches. In that part which lay towards the southern entrance it was hardly 2$1⁄2$ inches in thickness. This may possibly be accounted for by the decided slope of that part of the cave. In this rubbish, and more especially in front towards the eastern entrance, lay a number of large stones also consisting of white Jura or oolitic limestone. One of these stones was remarkable for its great size, being 73 inches long, 59 inches broad, and 53 inches high, so that the weight may be estimated not far from 5 tons. If it had been the case that a human being of that period had been buried under these stones when they fell we should have had tangible evidence of human occupation; but chance has not so willed it.

It took a long time to clear away all the upper bed of rubbish, as it contained nearly 4,300 cubic feet. But this covering was very useful in preserving the materials lying beneath; for if the whole weight be calculated it amounted to about 170 tons, thus exerting a pressure of about 1$3⁄4$ cwt. on each square foot, so that the relic-bed lying beneath was very much pressed down, and thus was less exposed to decom- position. In different places some inches under this rubbish-bed there lay two beds of stalagmite: one was about 54 square feet in extent, stretching from the northern side of the northern area, and was from 12 to 18 inches thick; the other formed a band alongside of the south wall of the rock, and was 18 or 19 inches thick. The stalagmite was so hard that it had to be blasted with gunpowder in order to separate it from the underlying relic-bed. Both these beds of stalagmite contained on the underside a great number of bones and a few flints, evidently showing that the stalagmite had begun to form when the cave was inhabited.

As before mentioned, under this rubbish-bed there lay a blade bed called the relic-bed (Kulturschicht), because it contained so many relics of early civilisation, and a mass of bones of different animals long since passed away. These silent evi-