2 REPORT — 1866. 



limestone lying- confusedly without anything like an approach to stratification 

 or symmetrical arrangement ; that blocks of limestone almost as large as those 

 overljdng the deposits were met with everywhere in the black mould, in the 

 floor of stalagmite, and in the cave-earth ; that though the stalagmite was 

 everywhere firmly attached to the walls, a few instances occurred in which it 

 did not extend quite across the Chamber, but that even in these exceptional 

 cases the line of demarcation between the black mould and the cave-earth was 

 sharp and well defined, there being no example of the commingling of the 

 two ; and that the presence of a calcareous drip was more or less traceable 

 throughout the cave-earth. 



They then described, somewhat in detail, the mode of exploration which 

 had been followed uniformly from the beginning, and which rendered it easy 

 to define accurately the position of every object of interest which had been 

 met with, — that is to say, its distance in feet from the entrance of the 

 Chamber ; its distance in yards, right or left, from a " datum " line crossing 

 the middle of the Chamber from the entrance to the back wall ; and its 

 depth in feet below the base of the stalagmite, to the extent of 4 feet, 

 beyond w^hich the excavation had not been carried. 



Proceeding to a very general, but by no means exhaustive description of 

 the contents of the various deposits, they stated that in the black mould 

 were found numerous well-rounded pebbles, consisting of various kinds 

 of rock, and probably derived from the neighbo\iring beaches ; whet- 

 stones ; pieces of slate, some of which w^ere wrought into curvilineal shapes ; 

 a spoon, a fibiila, a socketed celt, and other articles in bronze ; a large frag- 

 ment of a plate of smelted copper ; numerous pieces of pottery which, though 

 including one bit of Samian ware, were generally of a somewhat coarse 

 character ; a comb, a spoon, a chisel, and other objects formed of bone ; 

 spindle-whorls of various kinds of stone ; a few flint-flakes ; charred wood ; 

 bones of various animals, such as the pig, deer, sheep, badger, fox, hare, 

 rabbit, small Rodents, bat, birds, and diff'erent kinds of fish; shells of diff'erent 

 species of Helix, as well as of many of the marme forms common on the 

 coast; and hazel-nuts, generally perforated at one end. That the few 

 remains yielded by the stalagmitic floor included charred wood, land and 

 marine shells, and bones of various animals — all probably of existing species. 

 That from the cave-earth had been exhumed a very large number of bones 

 of Hyana sjjelcea, Felis spela'a, Ursus s^eJceus, Rhinoceros tichorliinus, EJejphas 

 ITiimigeniiis, Fox, probably more than one species of Horse, and several species 

 of Deer ; that those of the Hyaena were the most numerous, after which, 

 those of the Horse and llhinoceros were, perhaps, about equally abundant ; 

 that the remains of the Mammoth were those of very young individuals* ; 

 that many of the bones occurred as fragments and mere splinters ; that a large 

 number of them were scored with the teeth-marks of various kinds of animals; 

 that some of the long bones were split longitudinally ; that some of those 

 found beneath the large blocks of limestone were in a crushed condition ; 

 that most of them were of a chalk-lilce whiteness, a few only being dis- 

 colom-ed ; and that they were all of greater specific gravity than those found 

 in the black mould. That lumps made up of cave-earth, small stones, com- 

 minuted bone, and matter of probably fajcal origin were numerous and widely 

 distributed. That, rejecting doubtful specimens and mere chips, nearly thirty 

 flint " implements " had been found in the undisturbed cave-earth, under 



* Some of the teeth, &c., of Elephas prmi^cnius found in the cavern by the early 

 explorers belonged to funy-growii animals. 



