igio. USvSHER. — Cave- Him ting. 41 



In 1902 we commenced the digging out of a series of caves 

 at Kdenvale and New Hall, in Co. Clare. These occupied 

 me for three summers, and the number of bones and 

 teeth sent up from them were estimated by Dr. Scharff 

 at 70,000. Here again were two strata which had un- 

 fortunately been much mixed by the digging of Badgers, but 

 in the upper one we found numerous human bones, with those 

 of domestic animals and charcoal, and relics of man}^ ages, 

 from the flint scrapers and delicately pointed bone implements 

 to the gold bracelet, objects of bronze and iron, plated buckle 

 and band of bronze. A stone lamp, blackened internally by 

 smoke of the wick, had been used by the cave dwellers. 



Bones of extinct animals were most abundant in the second 

 or lower bed, but were by no means confined to it, and the cut 

 and roasted bones of Bear, and a canine of that animal rudely 

 cut across, showed 'that this animal had survived until hunted 

 by man. The Arctic Lemming left remains in both strata, 

 some of them looking fresh. Of Irish Elk and Reindeer (as 

 well as Red Deer) great numbers of bones were found, some- 

 times broken as if by man, and from these caves Dr. Scharff 

 has recognised the jaws of a large Wild Cat and of Arctic Fox, 

 both of them new to Ireland. Among the remains of birds 

 of many species ^vere some of Crane, said to have been 

 common in Ireland in the twelfth centur}', and also two 

 bones of Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a large mandible of 

 Hawfinch. These seem to have been members of the ancient 

 fauna, though now rare and accidental stragglers. Elaborate 

 reports on these caves have been published."" 



In 1904 the Mammoth Cave near Doneraile in North Cork 

 became the scene of our labours, and it has proved to be by 

 far the most important bone-cave in Ireland yet discovered. 

 From it during five summers I have sent to the National 

 Museum 86 baskets of fossil bones. These represent an earlier 

 period than we know from the other caves I have referred to, 

 except that of Shandon, and man and his domestic animals 

 were practicall}^ absent. This cave system consisted of long, 

 deep, narrow galleries worn along main joints by the solution 

 of water. These had coalesced in places, forming large halls. 

 Floors of crystalline stalagmite were frequent, sometimes 

 covering the beds of sand and sometimes forming ceilings 

 overhead, the materials on which they had been deposited 



^ Trans, R, I, Acad,, vol, xxxiii., B, pt. i., 1906. 



