Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/107

Rh de Perthes, etc. The investigation was begun on the 28th March 1865, and continued without interruption to the 19th June 1880, at an expense of £1963. (Brit. Ass. Report, 1883, p. 556.)

Three distinct strata were detected in the cave in addition to two sheets of stalagmite:—

(1) The surface was composed of dark earth containing mediæval remains, Roman pottery, and objects of iron, bronze, and stone, showing that the cave had been inhabited by man during Neolithic times.

(2) Below this was a stalagmitic floor, 1 to 3 feet thick, covering a reddish deposit known as the cave-earth, which contained a number of industrial relics made of stone, bone, and horn. Among the former were tongue-shaped, ovoid, and triangular tools of flint, together with worked flakes, scrapers, and cores of the same material; also a few hammerstones, one of sandstone being shaped like a cheese (Pl. X., No. 26).

Of bone there were pins, awls, barbed harpoons, and a neatly formed needle (Nos. 11-14 and 31). From the style of workmanship of these objects, especially the harpoons and needle, there can be little doubt that this cave had been occupied by Man as late as the early Magdalénien epoch. A few of the flint implements (Nos. 28-30) may, however, be paralleled with Moustérien types thus indicating a long period of human habitation. In addition to these relics the cave-earth contained, according to Pengelly, remains of the following animals:—

"The Cave Hyæna was by far the most prevalent form, and his presence was attested, not only by his numerous teeth and bones, but by his coprolites, by bones broken in a manner still followed by existing members of the same genus, and by the marks of his teeth on a very large portion of the osseous remains, including those of his own kith and kin. The next most prevalent forms were the Horse and Rhinoceros. Remains of the gigantic Irish Deer, Wild Bull, Bison, Red Deer, Mammoth, Badger, Cave Bear, Grizzly Bear, and Brown Bear were by no means rare; those of the Cave Lion, Wolf, Fox, and Reindeer were less numerous; and those of Beaver, Glutton, Machairodus latidens, and Man were very scarce. So far as it is at present known, the presence of the Glutton is attested by a single os inominatum: Machairodus latidens, by five canines and two incisors: and Man by a portion of upper jaw containing four teeth, which together with a solitary tooth was found at the base of the Granular Stalagmite, where it was 20 inches thick." (Journal of Plymouth Institute, February 1875.)