164 ON RAINS CAVE, LONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 



The confusion wrought by later interments was greater than the 

 reader perhaps imagines. It was not merely the case of an earlier 

 set being disturbed and displaced by a later set ; but as the inter- 

 ments of each set — each period — were themselves successive, 

 every new grave must have worked havoc with all the earlier 

 interments which happened to be in its way. In such a process, 

 not only would fragments of early interments be brought up to 

 the surface and left there, but as frequently they would be buried 

 again in a subsequent grave, and thus be transplanted to their old 

 level, but in a different plac e. 



" Thus far," the reader will hint, "you may have proved tlie 

 sepulchral origin of these bones ; but how do you prove the two 

 eras ? " We had very fair evidence for two eras. It will be 

 remembered that in the right hand region there were several thin 

 seams of stalagmite, and a patch of charcoal which we identified 

 with the flint-knapper's fire. For a distance of two or three feet 

 from the cave side these seams were intact ; but beyond that 

 limit they were broken up, and their debris were found scattered 

 above and below their original level. Only one explanation is 

 feasible for this displacement : the seams had been broken through 

 in the process of grave-digging. These graves, then, were more 

 recent than the formation of the stalagmite ; therefore the human 

 remains for which they were dug were also more recent. But it 

 so happens that human bones and potsherds of sepulchral vessels 

 were found immediately below the intact stalagmites. Even those 

 readers who have no geological knowledge will readily perceive 

 that these objects must have been placed in these positions 

 previous to the formation of these seams. Thus we have the relics 

 of two sets of interments, and the interval was sufficiently long to 

 allow of several seams of stalagmite being formed — always a very 

 slow process — and the accumulation of a considerable thickness 

 of soil. 



We can, however, build up a much more detailed history than 

 this. Nothing at all approaching to a complete skeleton was 

 found under the stalagmites ; and the same applies to the pottery, 

 only scattered fragments being found. Indeed, there was no 



