Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1892-09-09
BONES In CAVERNS.
BURIAL PLACES FOR TRIBES OF
BEASTS LONG EXTINCT.
Gaseous Relics Gathered by Carni-
yorcs Tropical Animals in
Arctic .Regions-60OO Cubic
Feet of Bone Dust.

localities. In thcm the scientific
explorer discovers the osseous relics
of beasts long extinct, which trod
the earth thousands upon thousands of
years ago. Quite commonly these bones
arc not fossilized, but, being preserved
by loamy sediment aud limy incrusta-
ton, actually retain their original gela-
tine. Often those found in a single
cavern,if they could be clad in the flesh
again and walk abroad, would suffice to
furnish score of as attractive meuag-
cries as ever accompanied circus. Nay,
more, they would form mighty herds of
strangc creatures, many OF them most
formidable and ferooious, such as are
only known to-day by skeletons more or
less incomplete.
One cave at Kirkdalo in England was
opened accidentally not long ago by
quarrymen, having been closed aud con-
cealed for ages by detritus overgrown
with grass. 1t was q veritable charnel
house, crowded with the bones of
numerous species of animals, among
which were many of elephants, rhinoc-
crosses, hippopotami, tigers aud hyenas.
There were also plentiful remains of
bears, wolves, oxen, deer, foxes, weasels
and several kinds of birds. Inasmuch
as the diameter Of the hole was only
about three or four feet it. was evident
that the great beasts above mentioned
could not have died there. Undoubtedly
the bones were fetched thither by hyenas,
which used the cavern as a den. But
what amazing conjectures respecting the
fauna Of Great Britain during the epoch
when these creatures lived are suggested
by the discovery Of such relics of giant
pachyderms and great carnivorcs in that
region!
Evidently the climate III that latitude
must have been tropical during the life
time of the beasts. A. present the Gle.
plant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and
hyena are only found near the co lator.
But in far northern Siberia, where now
eternal cold reigns, must formerly have
been everlasting summer, judging from
the fossil palms and crocodiles found in
that region SO abundantly. Along the
shores of the Arctic Ocean, from Arch.
angel to Bering Strait, the bones OF ele-
phants arc occasionally discovered in
enormous heaps. At the mouth Of the
Lena River there are whole islands COM
posed Of such bones and mud. Such
quantities of them are sometimes iucused
in iccbergs rs to form an important ar
,-$iclc of commerce, being melted out by
the heat of the sun during the short warm
season on the coast of Tungusia
Lieutenant Kotzcbue discovered in the
western part of the gulf to the north of
Bering Strait mountain of solid ice COW
cred with moss and grass. The surface;
of this extraordin airy hill was composed
of earth and sand, only about six inches
thick, beneath which the ice was grad
ually melting. AS it melted great num-
bers of the bones and teeth of mammoths
were exposed to view. The story of the
mammoth's carcass, found with all its
flesh entire in the frozen gravel of Tun-
gusia, where it had presumably been
buried for something like 100, 900 years,
previously, in 177l, woolly rhinoceros
in similar condition of preservation was
uncarthed in Siberia. The head and feet
of the animal are now in u museum at
st. Petersburg, together with large
quantity of its wool. So numerously are
the remains of mamuoths dug up in that
part CT the world that their tusks thus
obtained have for many years formed a
large part of the entire market supply Of
ivory. The name "mammoth." mean
ing ''animal of the earth, was originally
conferred by the natives, who supposed
that the huge creature lived underground
like mole.
However, in respect to the animal re-
mains found in it, the most remarkable
cave in the world is that at Kuhloch,
Germany. In this single cavern, the
size and proportions of which are about
equal to those of large church. there
are hundreds of carloads OF black ani-
NAL dust covering the whole. floor to q
depth of more than six feet The entire
quantity of this material, which Is com
posed wholly of the disintegrated bones
of animals, would exceed 5000 cubic
feet. The condition of the fragments of
bones found in it is different from that
of such remains in any other cave. such
bones being black and readily crunbling
between the fingers into soft powder
like mummy powder, which is OF the
same nature as the black earth in which
they arc embedded. The number of
individuals which contributed their
remains to make up this mass of the
dust of death must have been in the
thousands. Undoubtedly the dust is
almost exclusively from dccayed bones,
for tae fcshy parts OF animals bodies
-produco by their decomposition
. very little earthly residuum. AL
lowing two cubic feet of dust and
bones for each individual animal this
single vault may be reckoned to contain
the relics OF at least $500 bears-a num-
Der which could have been supplied in
1000 years by mortality at the rate OF
two and half bears per annum. Prob.
ably this estimate is very far below the
mesk. The cave is so dry that the black
earth lies in the state of loose powder,
which retains so considerable a portion
of its original animal matter that it is
occasionally used by the peasants as an
enriching fertilizer for the adjacent
meadows. 1t may be supposed that sue
cessive generations of antediluvian bears
Withdraw than, .alvaa fo thio rotraok nj,