24 REPORT — 18C5. 



curvilineal figure, and is slightly falciform. The inner or concave margin is 

 the cutting edge. Unfortunately the tip of the pointed end was broken off 

 after exhumation. Those from the third and fourth levels are more highly- 

 wrought "implements." They are worked to an edge around the entire 

 perimeter. In outline they are rather ovoid than elliptical, being narrower 

 at one end than at the other. That from the third foot measures 4-1- inches 

 in length, and its greatest breath and thickness are respectively 3^ inches 

 and |- of an inch. That found in the fourth zone, the lowest yet reached, is 

 the most elaborately finished "implement" of the series. It is lighter in 

 colour and somewhat smaller than the preceding two, its dimensions being 

 3| inches long, 2\ broad, and ^ in thickness. 



Without intending at present to enter on the consideration of all the 

 bearings of the entire evidence produced, the Committee feel at liberty to 

 express their conviction that it is totally impossible to doubt either the human 

 origin of the "implements," or their inosculation, in undisturbed soil, with 

 the remains of the Mammoth, the Cave-bear, and their extinct contem- 

 poraries. 



Nor are these the only indications of human existence found in the cave- 

 earth. Several small pieces of burnt bone have been met with in the red 

 loam, some of them loose and detached, others of small size and incor- 

 porated in the breccia composed of loam, stones, and comminuted bone. 



Mention has been made already of the occurrence in the cave- earth of 

 rounded stones not derivable from the limestone hill in which the cavern is 

 situated. It seems probable that at least some of them were selected and taken 

 there by man ; though it may not be easy, perhaps, to determine in all cases 

 for what purpose. But, waiving this point, there are two stones which must 

 not be hastily dismissed. The first of them is 4| inches long, and something 

 less than 1 inch square in the section. It is a mass of hard purplish-grey grit, 

 and is undoubtedly a whetstone, or rather a portion of one. It was found 

 in the first level of the cave-earth, in a small recess or cavity in the northern 

 wall of the chamber, immediately beneath a projecting stratum of limestone 

 in situ. In this cavity the stone stood with its longest axis vertical. The 

 Superintendents were inclined to the opinion that it had slipped through a 

 hole into the cavity at a comparatively recent date ; and they diligently set 

 to work to find the means of its ingress. Here, however, they were com- 

 pletely foiled. There was no hole or passage, vertical or lateral, by which 

 the cavity could have been entered. Not only, as has been said, was 

 there a thick stratum of limestone in situ immediately over the recess, 

 but over this again, as well as over the red loam, there was a thick com- 

 pact mass of stalagmitic breccia, consisting of large and small pieces of lime- 

 stone firmly cemented, and having a height of fully 8 feet ; the whole of 

 which was removed before the cavity was disclosed or its existence suspected. 

 The second stone is a rude flattened spheroid, formed from a pebble of 

 coarse, hard, red sandstone, and apparently used for breaking or crushing. 

 Its diameters measure 2| and 1| inches. It was found in the second level 

 of the red cave-earth, over which lay an enormous block of limestone, but 

 no stalagmite. 



In addition to the pleasure which always attends scientific discovery, the 

 Committee have had the gratification of confirming most of the statements 

 of their predecessors. Any differences observable between the statements 

 now made and those of the earlier investigators arise from defective, not 

 conflicting evidence. For example, the Committee have not yet been so 

 fortunate as to find the remains of Machairodus latidens, mentioned and 



