Notes 071 the Irish Caves. 93 



The lucky cave is one which having in past ages been open, 

 and having become the resort of animals or primeval men, 

 has received their remains as its deposits were being formed, 

 and having entombed them beneath a stalagmite floor which 

 formed over them, has remained undisturbed until the present 

 time. 



Such a cave may now be wholly or partially choked. 

 Thus when I discovered the Ballynamintra Cave and com- 

 menced to open it with Professor I^eith Adams it was filled to 

 within six inches of its roof with the strata which represented 

 the several chapters in its history. It was then difficult to 

 realize that we had found an orifice of any importance. I have 

 recently had the pleasure of rearranging, with the permission 

 of Dr. Ball, the collections from this cave in their new case in 

 the annexe of the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. But it 

 contains only a fragment of our pre-historic records. Bone- 

 caves should be brought to light north, south, east, and west 

 in Ireland. Not only caves but pitfalls (pits, and vertical 

 fissures in limestone) may contain stores of bones of extinct 

 animals. A series of such caves were explored by Professor 

 Leith Adams in Malta and yielded exuviae of very specialized 

 animals, e.g., the Pigmy Elephant. 



In many cases the roofs of our caves and rock-shelters have 

 been quarried away, and the fossiliferous strata have probably 

 been left undisturbed beneath the quarry rubbish. I have 

 heard of quarry men saying ** When we came to the dirt we 

 stopped," such dirt as would repay the most careful and 

 laborious examination. 



It does not follow from what I have said that the presence 

 of stalagmite is essential to the preservation of bones. The 

 remains of Irish Klk in the refuse-heap of the early hunters at 

 Ballynamintra were not covered with stalagmite, but were in 

 limestone soil dry enough to prevent the bones from decom- 

 posing. Still, a floor of stalagmite is the greatest safeguard to 

 fossil bones beneath it, not only preserving them beautifully, 

 but affording a guarantee that the newest object beneath it is 

 more ancient than the oldest object above it. 



In proceeding to dig out such deposits, the most careful 

 records must be kept of the exact position of each object, for 

 unless the sequence of events is recorded, the history of the 

 cave is broken up like the mixed letters in a spelling game, 



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