246 ON RAINS CAVE, LONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 



region, and among other things the two fragments of frontal 

 found by the Rainses were thrown up. 



The disturbance, and consequent commingUngof Imman remains, 

 brought about by later burials, is familiar enough to barrow- 

 openers; as also is the fact that the disturbed earlier inter- 

 ments rarely show signs of re-arrangement. The same cause 

 undoubtedly is responsible for the confusion in this cave. If skull 

 "E" relates to an interment — and I have little doubt that it does — 

 the body must have been simply laid on the floor and covered 

 up with stones and soil. The early disturbance of this interment 

 implies the early introduction of others — at least, one, as several 

 fragments of another skull were also found imder the charcoal 

 layer. The interments of the later era must have been in graves ; 

 some deep enough to reach the refuse layer ; thus accounting, 

 not merely for bones, etc., of the earlier era being brought up to 

 higher levels, but for the commingling of both in that layer, and 

 the disturbed condition of the upper soil in the central region 

 already noticed. As might be expected, it was only possible to 

 distinguish between the bones of the two sets of interments in 

 exceptional cases. Besides the fragments of the two skulls which 

 belonged to the more ancient interments, another may be attri- 

 buted with less degree of certainty to the same period — that to which 

 the burnt fragments related, nothing belonging to it being found 

 above the refuse layer. On the other hand, as the remains of the 

 two most completely restored skulls — the " C" of the last report, and 

 "G" of the next; and those of another — the "A" of the last — were 

 all found very near the surface, mostly during the earlier diggings, 

 we may, with a like degree of certainty, assign these to the later 

 era. Now if these two sets of skull-fragments are compared, those 

 of the former are noticeably thicker than the latter. This is pro- 

 bably more than a mere coincidence, for scattered fragments of 

 at least one other thick skull were found in the refuse layer, while 

 some of other thin ones were found nearer the surface. 



The potsherds not only corroborate this testimony of the skulls, 

 but carry it a stage further. Beneath the charcoal layer were 

 some fragments of two typical " food vases," several of the one 



