148 REPORT— 1870. 



in white flint, a perfect specimen of a leaf-shaped aiTow-head, 1^ inch long and 

 nearly f inch broad. Dr. Thui-nam, who has seen it, prouoiinces it to he somewhat 

 larger than those of the same unharbed type found by him in the Wiltshire barrows. 

 The two small compartments into which the passage itself is divided were filled 

 up to the height of 18 inches with charred bones, broken into small fragments. On 

 the top of these, in the first chamber, a piece of bent bone was found, 9 inches 

 long, tooled and rounded at one end, to all appearance being a broken portion of 

 a bow. The most remarkable thing about it is that it has lain there so long that it 

 is now silicified. In the second chamber, and in a similar position (that is, on the 

 top of the charred bones which filled the compartment), the author found a roughly 

 finished bone dagger, 7 inches long and nearly 1 inch broad. 



Caibn T. 



Among the loose stones at the bottom of the central chamber, and close to the 

 entrance to the northern crypt, was found a bronze pin, 2i inches long, with head 

 ornamented and stem slightly so, and still preserving the beautiful green polish 

 peculiar to bronze *. 



The author does not propose offering any theories or opinions, contenting him- 

 self with the simple statement of facts, and leaving others to draw such conclusions 

 from them as .their various judgments may suggest. One fact, however, appears to 

 him to be established, viz. that the cremation of the dead has been practised in 

 Sliabh-na-Caillighe up to a period when the people had become acquainted with 

 the use of articles made not only of stone and of oronze, but of iron, glass, amber, 

 and bone. 



On the Discovery of Plati/cnemic Men in Denhighshire. 

 Bij "W. BoTD Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., and George Busk, F.R.S., F.L.S. 



Mr. Boyd Dawkins described a refuse-heap at Perthi Chwarexi in Denbighshire, 

 and a sepulchral cave which he discovered close bv, containing from twenty to 

 twenty-five human skeletons, bm-ied in the crouching posture, and, associated with 

 a flint flake, a few fragments of marine shells, the mussel, cockle, and Mi/a trun- 

 catn, and broken bones of animals. The latter were of the same species in both 

 cave and refuse-heap, viz. dog, fox, badger, marten, wild cat, pig, roe, red deer, 

 goat (Bos Iwiffifroiis), Celtic short-horn, horse, water-rat, hare, and rabbit. The 

 two deposits are therefore of the same relative antiquity. Tlie same group of ani- 

 mals occurred also in the cave at Cefn, near St. Asaph, in which human bones were 

 found along with flint flakes. The human skulls and bones also from a chambered 

 tomb near Cefn are of the same character ; and therefore the refuse-heap, the in- 

 terments in the two caves, and the tumidus are probably of the same date. The 

 hmnan skulls are of the ordinary type termed " Ancient British," and some of the 

 leg-bones present the peculiar character which is denoted by the term platvcnemic, 

 while others are of the normal shape. This diversity destroys the value of platyc- 

 nemism as a character of race. It has not been observed before in any British ske- 

 letons. The presence of the flint flakes, coupled with the crouching posture of the 

 skeletons and the shape of the skulls, proves that some deposits are of Neolithic 

 age. Professor Busk pointed out the difl'erence in the platycnemism of the Den- 

 bighshire skeletons and that in those which have been discovered in France and 

 Gibraltar ; and maintained that the evidence in favour of its being a race-character 

 completely broke down. The remains found in Denbigh indicated a small race, ave- 

 raging from 5 to 5 feet 6 inches in stature. 



Ej?ploration of the Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire. 

 By W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., F.E.S. 



The following are the results of the labours of the Settle Cave Exploration 

 Committee up to the present date. In cutting a new entrance into the Victoria 

 Cave, this section was exposed : — 



* A collection of the most interesting objects found, and a series of drawings of the in- 

 scribed stones from one cairn, were exhibited in a large glass case at the Soiree given in 

 St. George's Hall. 



