Port Kennedy Cave

[MKIRKALDY@aol.com]

Posted for Jerry Harris et. al.

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To Whom it May Concern:

Personnel from the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at the Academy of Natural 
Sciences (Philadelphia), in conjunction with the United States National Park 
Service and Valley Forge National Historical Park, are currently attempting to 
relocate an important Pleistocene fossil locality near the town of Port 
Kennedy, in Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, southeastern 
Pennsylvania.  We appeal to listserve subscribers for any assistance you may be 
able to provide.

In the late 1800s, workers quarrying limestone near Port Kennedy discovered a 
filled vertical fissure (sinkhole) containing abundant remains of middle 
Pleistocene mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and plants.

Notable mammal finds included multiple specimens of mastodon (Mammut), ground 
sloth (Megalonyx), and several felid genera, including the sabertooth Smilodon 
gracilis and the American cheetah Miracinonyx.  The principal investigators of 
the vertebrate remains were Edward Drinker Cope and Charles Wheatley, while 
Henry Chapman Mercer studied the taphonomy of the site. 
 
Although its fossils were far from exhausted, the fissure was abandoned in 1896 
because flooding prevented further work.  In the early 20th Century (1930s?), 
the flooded quarry containing the site was filled with waste from the Ehret 
Magnesia Manufacturing Company, and the precise location of the fossiliferous 
sinkhole was lost.

Today, the site, known as Port Kennedy Cave or Bone Cave, is recognized as one 
of the most significant middle Pleistocene (Irvingtonian) localities in eastern 
North America.  We are attempting to establish its precise location through a 
search of paleontological and historical literature and archives 
from the late 19th and early 20th centuries (particularly the 1870s through 
1930s).  Although we have made progress in relocating the Port Kennedy Cave, we 
would like further evidence to support our conclusions, ideally photographs of 
the site prior to its infilling in the 1930s.

If you have any information on the location of the Port Kennedy locality, or 
would like further information, please email lamanna@sas.upenn.edu or 
daeschler@acnatsci.org. Any evidence pertinent to the location of Port Kennedy 
Cave will be greatly appreciated, and acknowledged in subsequent 
reports and publications.

Sincerely,
Matthew C. Lamanna
University of Pennsylvania
lamanna@sas.upenn.edu
(215) 573-8373

Dr. Edward B. Daeschler
Academy of Natural Sciences
daeschler@acnatsci.org
(215) 299-1133
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry D. Harris
Dept of Earth & Environmental Science
University of Pennsylvania
240 S 33rd St
Philadelphia PA  19104-6316
Phone: (215) 573-8373
Fax: (215) 898-0964
E-mail: jdharris@sas.upenn.edu
and     dinogami@hotmail.com
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jdharris

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