The Matupi cave is one of the 40 caves within the Mount Hoyo limestone massif, a touristic site in Ituri, Zaïre. The author recognized its archaeological possibilities in February 1973 during a prospection tour in the northern part of the country. This expedition had been organized by the Institut des Musées nationaux du ZaYre in collaboration with the Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale at Tervuren, Belgium. Upon the visit to the cave a I sq m trial trench was excavated. More extended excavations (10 sq m) took place during January-March 1974. The excavations were carried out in spits of 5 cm on a I m grid system. Matupi is a large cave with an ideal living room at its entrance (c. 7 m high, c. 8 m deep and c. 5 m wide).

In my article in 1954 I suggested that the role of the Finns in the folklore of the northern Scottish Islands might have assisted in the attribution to these visitors of the designation “Finn-men” which is found in the earliest accounts. The aim of the article was to dispose of suggestions by earlier students of the problem (e.g. MacRitchie, 1912a, 130-1) that they might be visitors from Northern Europe, and to identify them clearly as Eskimos arriving directly from Greenland. The problem that the kayak becomes waterlogged after being immersed in water for 48 hours presents difficulties to this solution which could only be overcome if one postulated Olympic standards on the part of the travellers. At the time of this study I presumed that the Scottish specimens and traditions were unique, and therefore sought an explanation which was particular to that country.