Page:The history of Little England beyond Wales and the non-Kymric colony settled in Pembrokeshire.pdf/42

16 by man. But Professor Rolleston read the riddle otherwise. The conclusion he arrived at was that men used the cave itself as a dwelling-place, and a depression above as a burial- place; at last the depression subsided into the cave, letting down the buried human bones among the remains of bygone feasts, and that burrowing animals, foxes, badgers and rabbits, completed the admixture. Professor Rolleston says:—

We are not aware that this explanation of the presence of human bones mixed with those of domesticated animals in a cave, by the gradual or sudden descent into it of such bones from a superimposed interment is necessitated by the phenomena of any other cave; it is obvious enough, however, that the concave surface presented by "an initiatory area of depression," would be very likely to suggest itself as a convenient site for such a purpose to any race of men who might be sufficiently free at once from the conventionalities of civilized life, and from the superstitions of savage life, and might be glad to take an easy way of burying their dead out of their sight.

With regard to the human remains, he says:—

We have absolute proof in the nine lower jaws, that no less than nine human beings have their skeletons represented in the collection made from this cave. Two fragmentary representatives of lower jaws found—one in the talus outside the north entrance, the other in the middle of the north cave, correspond probably to two other skeletons, but it is just possible that they may be parts of some one or other of the nine demonstrably distinct mandibles. Of these nine individuals, no less than five were males in or beyond the middle period of life; one belonged to a woman in late life; one to a person about the age of puberty, with the wisdom tooth as yet uncut; one to a child with the first two molars just cut; one to a child with none but the milk teeth in place; three more or less perfect calyaria have been reconstructed out of the remains collected by Mr. Laws and ourselves. All the crania are dolicocephalic ; and one a male skull, "mecistocephalic" in Professor Huxley’s language, with a cephalic index of 69 and with the pear-shaped contour when viewed from above, due to a rapid tapering from the level of the parictal tubera forwards, which has so often been spoken of since the writings of Professor Daniel Wilson as characteristic of many skulls from the earliest sepultures of Great Britain. There is no doubt that this is a very ancient form of skull, but the well~known tenacity and persistence of such ancient forms forbids us to use it as an evidence as to date. Of the other two, one belonged undoubtedly to a man, the other to a woman, and neither though dolicocephalic are exaggeratedly so, as is the case with the first named.

When I opened a large kitchen midden on Giltar Head the contents much resembled those of Longbury cave, but the shell-fish immensely preponderated over the bones, and amongst these human bones were absent. In chalk countries flint knives and arrow-heads being the produce of a cretaceous formation, were made here there and everywhere. In Pembrokeshire only a few places produced flint; on the sea-shore are water worn pebbles, plentiful indeed, but too small for use; in the patches of drift found on the western side of the county, large pieces of flint are not uncommon. Probably the natives of these favoured localities becoming skilful in knapping, not only made knives for their own use, but supplied their neighbours with stone cutlery; at all events they seem to have chipped off a great many flakes in their time. Starting from the south-east the first place in which we find signs of a flint factory is on Stackpole Warren. This seems to have been a most important centre in primitive times. We find there relics of flint, bronze, and iron. Before the tide was shut out, and when the sea level reached up to the raised beach marks, this plain of blown sand was