Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JACOBS CAVERN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 120 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JACOBS CAVERN , a cavern in See also:latitude 36° 35' N., 2 M. E. of Pineville, McDonald See also:county, See also:Missouri, named after its discoverer, E. H. Jacobs, of Bentonville, See also:Arkansas. It was scientifically explored by him, in See also:company with Professors See also:Charles See also:Peabody and See also:Warren K. Moorehead, in 1903. The results were published in that See also:year by Jacobs in the See also:Benton County See also:Sun; by C. N. See also:Gould in See also:Science, See also:July 31, 1903; by Peabody in the Am. Anthropologist, See also:Sept. 1903; and in the Am. Journ.

See also:

Archaeology, 1904; and by Peabody and Moorehead, 1904, as Bulletin I. of the Dept. of Archaeology in See also:Phillips See also:Academy, See also:Andover, See also:Mass., in the museum of which are exhibits, maps and photographs. Jacobs Cavern is one of the smaller caves, hardly more than a See also:rock-shelter, and is entirely in the " St Joe See also:Limestone " of the sub-carboniferous See also:age. Its roof is a single See also:flat stratum of See also:lime-See also:stone; its walls are well marked by lines of stratification; drip-stone also partly covers the walls, fills a deep fissure at the end of the See also:cave, and spreads over the See also:floor, where it mingles with an See also:ancient See also:bed of ashes, forming an ash-See also:breccia (mostly See also:firm and solid) that encloses fragments of See also:sandstone, See also:flint spalls, flint implements, See also:charcoal and bones. Underneath is the true floor of the cave, a mass of homogeneous yellow See also:clay, one See also:metre in thickness. It holds scattered fragments of limestone, and is itself the result of limestone degeneration. The length of the opening is over 21 metres; its See also:depth 14 metres, and the height of roof above the undisturbed ash See also:deposit varied from r m. 20 cm. to 2 M. 6o cm. The See also:bone See also:recess at the end was from 50 cm. to 8o cm. in height. The stratum of ashes was from 50 cm. to I M. 50 cm. thick. The ash See also:surface was staked off into square metres, and the substance carefully removed in See also:order.

Each stalactite, stalagmite and See also:

pilaster was measured, numbered, and removed in sections. Six human skeletons were found buried in the ashes. Seven-tenths of a cubic metre of See also:animal bones were found: See also:deer, See also:bear, See also:wolf, See also:raccoon, See also:opossum, See also:beaver, See also:buffalo, See also:elk, See also:turkey, See also:wood-chuck, See also:tortoise and hog; all contemporary with See also:man's occupancy. Three stone metates, one stone See also:axe, one See also:colt and fifteen See also:hammer-stones were found. Jacobs Cavern was peculiarly See also:rich in flint knives and projectile points. The sum See also:total amounts to 419 See also:objects, besides hundreds of fragments, cores, spalls and rejects, retained for study and comparison. Considerable See also:numbers of bone or See also:horn awls were found in the ashes, as well as fragments of pottery, but no " ceremonial " objects. The See also:rude type of the implements, the See also:absence of See also:fine pottery, and the peculiarities of the human remains, indicate a See also:race of occupants more ancient than the " See also:mound-builders." The deepest See also:implement observed was buried 50 cm. under the stalagmitic surface. Dr. Hovey has proved that the See also:rate of stalagmitic growth in See also:Wyandotte Cave, See also:Indiana, is .0254 cm. annually; and if that was the rate in Jacobs Cavern, 1968 years would have been needed for the embedding of that implement. Polished rocks outside the cavern and pictographs in the vicinity indicate the See also:work of a prehistoric race earlier than the Osage See also:Indians, who were the historic owners previous to the See also:advent of the See also:white man. (H.

C.

End of Article: JACOBS CAVERN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
JACOBITES (from Lat. Jacobus, James) 		[next]
JACOBS, CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1764-1847)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries