Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/21

Rh clear that the slab is of the same age as the bones and implements found here, for a narrow strip or band of the relic-bed runs quite underneath it, while round about it it is much thicker. It is a peculiar and interesting fact that the relic- bed in front goes down deeply under the present sui-face of the valley; this has led me to many considerations as to the age of this bed, to which I hope to refer subsequently. Under the relic-bed, and extending over the whole of the cave, there was another bed coloured red with oxide of iron, and which consisted, like the others, of crumbled limestone. This bed also continued a number of bones and implements which were better preserved than the others, as they were constantly surrounded with the water of the soil, and thus were less exposed to the decomposing influences of atmospheric air. Here I may remark that water is very essential for the preservation of bones. Doubtless in prehistoric times every convenient cave was inhabited; but from the want of water the human and animal remains in the course of thousands of years have disappeared from the majority of these caves, so that with the exception of the flint-flakes every indication of the former inhabitants has been lost. The cave lately found in the neighbourhood of Berne is a proof of this.

The thickness of this second relic-bed varied from 14 inches to 2$1⁄2$ inches. It was not coloured black, probably because then the number of the Troglodytes was not so great, consequently the remains of their feasts were less, and the products of their decomposition were partly dissolved by the water and washed away underground.

The bed below this red relic-bed consists of a regular bed of yellow loam: towards the eastern side it is of considerable thickness; but the depth has not been ascertained, as the water came in when any deep excavations were made. It does not extend over the whole area of the cave, so that in the back portion of it the red relic-bed rests immediately on the original rock. So far as this bed of loam has been examined not the slightest trace of a bone was found in it, though on the surface some few bones and implements, and also some flint-flakes, lay pressed into it, and this fact seems to prove that man was the first occupier of the cave. All the beds were somewhat sloping; the greatest inclination was From the southern entrance to the middle of the cave: the angle of inclination was here about 25 degrees. In front the beds terminate abruptly.

In the process of excavation one bed was carefully taken away