[ 30 ] 



■would expect them to be if this theory was acceptable, i.e., in each 

 cave by the loose blocks that had been detached in working out 

 one of the others, which would naturally be thrown in when the 

 mineral was exhausted, rather than be dragged to the sui-face. 



He must, incidentally, mention a curious fact noticed, viz., the 

 occurrence, not exactly, but nearly, in the centre of the base of the 

 open shaft, of a small cutting, one foot deep and wide, and two 

 feet long; it was filled by chalk loam, and there was not a trace of 

 charcoal, or of discoloured chalk, which might have indicated the 

 presence of a fire. It had been suggested that it might have been 

 an experiment to see if another layer did not immediately underlie 

 the one that had been worked out, and, finding this not to be the 

 case, no further use was made of it. He could account for it in no 

 other way. Turning to the various manufactui-ed articles found 

 (consisting mainly of flint implements and bones), and their occur- 

 rence and appeai-ances, it would be observed by looking at the 

 diagram, that the character of the deposit below the level of the 

 original chalk surface, was divided into four distinct strata, two of 

 red earth and two of blocks of chalk. As to the relation of the 

 traces of man's presence with one and the other", it might be 

 I'oughly stated that the worked flints occurred in the red earth, and 

 the bones were associated with the chalk ; this was not absolutely 

 correct, as there were sevei'al minor instances au contraire, but it 

 was substantially so. 



Taking the bones first, then, they were represented by pieces 

 of the antlers of the red deer, variously manipulated. There were 

 in all, the fragments of about ten, more or less, in a poor state of 

 pi'eservation, much bi'oken, and therefore not showing so plainly 

 their original shape as some that had been found elsewhere. 

 There was only one fair example of that, of which he hoped to find 

 several, viz., the instruments with which we might fancy the 

 excavation was principally can-ied on; this was the antler stn^jped 

 of all its tines, except the brow tine, which thus formed both a 

 powei-fal pick, and, when reversed, a hammer, and was, in fact, the 

 prototype of the implement (in wood and iron), at present in use 

 for the same purpose at Brandon. It measured llin., and, though 

 broken, it was evidently a new tool, as it did not show those marks 

 of the workman's hands which were so plainly visible on similai* 

 tools found in other localities, to any extent, the only marks of 



