Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1900-06-08
MODERN CAVE JEWELLERS.

Professor Sterrotf ON Ills Recent fnNpStt-
cation Among the rroGiodytes.
Professor J. II. S. Sterrett OF Am.
herst college, who has mado some in.
tsresting Investigations among tho
troglodyte dwellings in Cappadocia,
recently lectured upon the subject OF
these rock houses before the New
York society Of tho Archaeological Iu-
stitute Of America Much of what he
said has as a basis personal explora-
ton. In brief his remarks were:
"The earliest men we have any
knowledge OF dwelt in caves. They
lived together in families. pos essing
the women and children in common,
with the exception of certain classes.
whose wives were inviolable. They
had no social intercourse with families
about them. Instead. they drew q
dead line outside their dwellings,
which they forbade their neighbors To
cross. Entrance was made mp ladders
OF holes cut in the rock, which seem
difficult for tho women and children
to climb. Herodotus says they lived
on serpents. Obadiah's account Of
Edam strangely parallels the descrip-
ton Of troglodyte regions OF Cappa-
docia today.
II you draw line north from Tar
sus and east from Smyrna the point OF
intersection will be in the land OF the
modern cave dwellers. Here the re.
gion is entirely volcanic--an overly
ing stratum of lava and an intermin-
able depth OF pumice stone. Here for
an area 40 miles in diameter there
are mighty stone cones several hun.
dred feet in height. aud 80 thickly
strsYl that il is az easy to bs lost
among them as in a great forest.
Centuries Of erosions have worked out
this strange aE:eilsctgrA go. -
The soft stone Is sasily eScSvated,
for a family in thirty days have dug
out chamber 80 feet long and
10 feet deep. In these cones are
dwellings, one above the other, some
times ninsssaries bigb not seldom
\ a,any more, but usnnay .wo or three
The egress is oftss liiaI, mn. with bola.
In tho stone for ladders. Many cones
have no Visible means OF entrance,
and sometimes the one doorway to
the many dwellings In q cliff is a long
distance away from the rooms. This
10 all for safety. In these communi-
M;ls;;5 TX t ssys sA.s s 3 fGSS
doQrways deliberately aud making tho
interior In imitation Of Byzantine ar
chitecture, with columns and arches
and saints, nimbi and oil, cut In the
soft stone. g
Stairways to upper stories are like
wells, and inches or shelves are cut in
the side OF the walls near the ceiling.
These they use for closets or store
rooms. In many cases the external
walls have rotted away, so that the in
terror can be seen from without Then
the residents make use OF the open
chambers to dry their fruit in, or they
turn them over to doves, whose eggs
form a chief article OF diet. Many Of
the windows were borderod with paint.
but no one seems TO know the origin
or purpose OF this ornamentation.
Weird and curious a. the country
is in general, II has Its local variations
aud contrasts. In front Of these cone
residences the Inhabitants raise their
vegetables 10 fertile soil, which, like
enough, may be but few feet from o
desert. Ia one place a grape grower
lived In a house beneath his own vine
yard.
Graves arc to DO found below tho
floors OF the chapels, and II Is clear
that tho people lived, as the ancient
historians said OF them. In the same
room with their pigeons and dead.
There is another place in Cappa-
docia, further to the east, where the
rock changes into the form OF cliffs.
In them the people make their homes.
They build a sort OF facade In front Of
tho face Of the rock and then excavata
as far inward as they please without
having to let their neighbors know
how large a residence they own.
II is hard 10 tell how far back these
dwellings date. But they
are doubtless contemporaneous with
the stone tombs OF the Phrygian
kings, built 800 b. G. Perhaps they
belong TO the days OF the Hittites OF
the Bible, 1909 years before the
Chri ,tian era. Anyway, they offer
chance for wonder aud
thought,