Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/112

62 by the leptorhine species and the hippopotamus." (Ibid., p. 187.)

Hyæna Den of Kirkdale.

The cave of Kirkdale was discovered in a limestone quarry in the vale of Pickering during the summer of 1821, and soon afterwards explored by Dr Buckland, who published the result in the following year, in his work entitled Reliquiæ Diluvianæ. The entrance to the cave was some 3 feet high and 6 feet wide, and opened into the rock, 20 feet below the surface of the plateau, and 80 feet above the valley bottom. The entrance passage, 5 to 10 feet wide, ran into the rock horizontally, and branched off into a series of side galleries containing some calcareous deposits mixed with the red loam which formed the floor of the cave.

The following is a list of the twenty-three species of animals identified from this cave:—Carnivora—hyæna, tiger, bear, wolf, fox, and weasel. Four Pachydermata-elephant (E. antiquus), rhinoceros (hemitœchus), hippopotamus, and horse. Four Ruminantia—ox, and three species of deer. Four Rodentia—hare, rabbit, water-rat, and mouse. Five Birds—raven, pigeon, lark, snipe, and a small species of duck.

Remains of the hyæna, representing from 200 to 300 individuals, were most abundant ; and next to them came those of the ox and deer. From a careful analysis of the evidence, Dr Buckland came to the conclusion that the cave was the den of hyænas; and as no complete skeleton of any of the larger animals had been found, he inferred that the hyænas carried their food piecemeal into the cave, and that its contents had not been disturbed down to the time of its exploration.

West of England and Welsh Caves.

Palæolithic man has left no traces of his presence in the caves of Castleton and Matlock (Derbyshire), the Victoria Cave, near Settle, the famous hyæna den at Kirkdale, nor indeed in any of the bone caves in Britain described by Dr Buckland, with the exception of the cave of Paviland (Glamorganshire). But when Dr Buckland wrote, worked objects of flint of Palæolithic types were not known, or at least not generally recognised to be the product of human hands, so