ON RAINS CAVE, LONGCLIFFE, DERBYSHIRE. 4 1 



by no means implies a great age ; and in this respect it contrasts 

 with two iron objects, rings or buckles, which are now reduced to a 

 mere ochreous mass. 



Last to be noticed are a few flint chippings, of very nondescript 

 shapes, which were noticed in turning over the soil. It is well to 

 mention here some beautiful flint implements found in a field in the 

 vicinity by Mr. Broadhead, a farmer close by, and a few by Mr. 

 Rains upon his land, a typical assortment of which are figured on 

 Plates III. and IV. all full size. Some of the arrow heads are really 

 beautiful objects, especially a delicately chipped leaf-shaped one. 

 There are also a spear head, a considerable number of horse-shoe- 

 shaped and other scrapers, two broken celts, and many flakes. Most of 

 these were turned up at different times in ploughing. Whether the 

 locality is unusually rich in these implements, or these gentlemen are 

 more intelligent and watchful than their neighbours generally, it is 

 difficult to say. It should be stated that none of these are palaeolithic ; 

 in the Midlands and North, implements of that period are found only 

 in caves. 



The antiquity of the " finds," the uses to which the cave has been 

 put, and the possibilities of the projected exploration must now be 

 considered. As already stated, the fauna are of the Recent period of 

 geology, a period the commencement of which, geologically speaking, 

 is but as yesterday, and yet which stretches back in all probability 

 millenniums before human history, and laughs to scorn the boasted 

 antiquity of Egypt and Assyria. The fauna, then, give a wide range 

 of time for our "finds" — they may be 500 or 5,000 years old! 

 The wild cat, the red deer, and the short-horn indicate no very 

 recent date. The pottery is more decisive. There is a consensus of 

 opinion, it is difficult to say exactly upon what grounds, that wheel- 

 made pottery was unknown in this country before the Roman occu- 

 pation. Again, the pre-Saxon or " Keltic " round barrows, the hand- 

 made pottery of which, as just observed, has many parallels to that 

 of our cave, do not precede that occupation by any great lapse 

 of time, and certainly some of them were contemporary with it. The 

 hand-made pottery, it may be observed, is quite unlike that of the 

 Saxons. The spindle-whorl has also something to say. Although the 



