Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/111

Rh (p. 174, et seq.), that it is unnecessary for me to do more than refer to one or two of the most important conclusions arrived at.

The Robin Hood and Church Hole caves may be taken as typical of the group. In excavating from the surface downwards a dark layer of earth, 5 or 6 inches thick, was first encountered, which contained fragments of Roman and mediæval pottery. Beneath this was a combination of stalagmite, breccia, and ordinary cave-earth. At various depths in the cave-earth a number of relics indicating Magdalénien culture was collected, including the following:—Of flint, there were well-formed borers, flakes, engravers, etc. (Pl. X., Nos. 4, 5, and 6); of bone, were a needle, an awl, chisels, a flat piece engraved with the head of a horse, and another with notches cut at the edge (Nos. 7-11). In the lower sandy deposits implements of flint and stone of Moustérien types were met with, including a coup-de-poing of quartzite (No. 1) and an oval implement of the same material with a cutting edge all round, similar to tools found in Kent's Cavern. It is interesting that in the upper cave-earth of the Robin Hood Cave the upper canine of the sabre-toothed lion (Machairodus latidens) was found (No. 3). "The results of the exploration of these caves," writes Professor Dawkins, "so far as they bear on the history of man, may be summed up as follows: In the two lower stages, the hunters are identical with those of the river-drift, while the more highly finished articles, which imply a higher, and probably a different, social condition, appear in the upper series, and are, therefore, later in time." (Ibid., p. 186.)

Another important result was the discovery in the cave, called Mother Grundy's Parlour, of a lower stratum than the lowest ossiferous layer in the other caves, containing remains of hyænas, bisons, hippopotami, and small-nosed rhinoceroses the last two animals being new to the district. "No implements," writes the Professor, "were found at this horizon, and there is, therefore, no proof that the Palæolithic hunter was a contemporary of these two animals in the district. Nor have the reindeer, the woolly rhinoceros, and the mammoth, so abundant in the other caves of Cresswell Crags, left any trace of their having invaded the district at the time of its occupation