between Archaeology and Geology. 249 



at the period when the ossiferous loam was deposited : but 

 the facts described do not appear to me to warrant this in- 

 ference. Kent's Hole, Banwell Cave, and indeed all the 

 ossiferous caverns I have examined, are mere fissures in lime- 

 stone rocks that have been filled with drift while submerged 

 in shallow water, and into which the limbs and carcasses of 

 the quadrupeds were floated by currents ; for the bones, 

 though broken, are very rarely waterworn, and consequently 

 must have been protected by the muscles and soft parts. 

 Upon the emergence of the land, of which the raised beds of 

 shingle afford proof, the fissures were elevated above the 

 waters, and gradually drained ; the formation of stalactites 

 and stalagmites, from the percolation of water through the 

 superincumbent beds of limestone, then commenced, and con- 

 tinued to a late period. 



If, when Kent's Hole first became accessible, and while the 

 floor was in a soft or plastic state, and before the formation 

 of the stalactitic covering, some of the wandering British 

 aborigines prowled into the cave, or occasionally sought 

 shelter there, the occurrence of stone instruments, pottery, 

 bones, &c., in the ossiferous loam, may be readily explained ; 

 for any hard or heavy substances, even if not buried, would 

 quickly sink beneath the surface to a depth of a few feet, 

 and afterwards become hermetically sealed up, as it were, 

 by the crust of stalagmite that now forms the solid pave- 

 ment. 



Certain caves in Aquitaine contain masses and layers of a 

 stalactitic conglomerate, composed of bones of men and car- 

 nivora, and fragments of pottery. The origin and formation of 

 this breccia are attributed by M. Desnoyer to the remains of 

 some of the aboriginal Celtic tribes, who frequented these 

 caves, or were buried there, having become blended with the 

 mud, gravel, and debris of the extinct animals, already 

 entombed ; the mass, by a subsequent infiltration of stalag- 

 mite, having been converted into a solid aggregate. 



From what has been advanced, the archaeologist will 

 therefore perceive that the occurrence of the remains of 

 man with those of extinct species of animals, in a deposit 

 that is covered by a thick layer of solid rock, must not be 



