23 REPORT — 1867. 



Amongst the metal articles, there are a small bronze hook, an almost per- 

 fect bronze socketed celt, a halfpenny of 1806, and a sixpence of 1846. 



The bone implements include an awl; a portion of some prismatic tool with 

 rounded edges, and having on its surface a series of equidistant grooves or 

 notches, such as to suggest that it may be part of a measuring rod ; two bone 

 combs, and fragments of two others. The combs belong to the same class as 

 that descrilxxl in the First Report — " having the form of a shoe-Hfter, with 

 teeth at the broad end." One of them is small, and rudely formed ; the other 

 is larger, and is highly finished. Two parallel lines traverse its surface, in a 

 zigzag series, from end to end. At the end opposite that containing the 

 teeth, there is a hole, as if for suspending it. This interesting object, the 

 two fragments of combs, the grit spindle-whorl previously mentioned, a cockle 

 shell, several potsherds, and a bone cut with sone keen-edged tool were found 

 in the south-eastern portion of the Great Chamber, where the overlying Black 

 Mould was itself overlaid by a cake of stalagmite, which was attached to the 

 wall of the cavern, from 1 to 2 inches thick, and which measured 7 

 feet from north to south by 6 from east to west. In many instances, sta- 

 lagmite, fuUy as thick, had been found on the large blocks of hmestone lying 

 on the Black Mould ; but this was the first, and, indeed, is at present the only 

 example of such a cake formed immediately on the Black deposit itself. The 

 interest attaching to it lies in the fact that there the lodgement of the Black 

 Mould had closed before the formation of the stalagmite lying on it had 

 begun ; and that thus a certain amount of antiquity is secured for the objects 

 which, as has just been stated, were found sealed up. In short, the geolo- 

 gical evidence concurs with the archfeologieal. 



The overlying Black Mould has continued to yield a large number of bones 

 of various mammals and birds, none of them probably belonging to extinct 

 species. In this series, the most interesting objects found during the last 

 year, are several portions of the human skeleton — including ve-tebrte, parts 

 of lower jaws containing teeth, several loose teeth, and a skull. The skuU 

 was found about 6 inches below the surface, adjacent to the limestone rock, 

 and immediately -within the northern external entrance of the Cavern. The 

 other human remains were met with in different parts of the Vestibule, and 

 on different occasions. The first relic, indeed, the first vestige of the human 

 skeleton met with dm-ing the present exploration, was part of a lower jaw 

 containing two molars, and was found in December 1866. 



The Stalagmitic Floor has presented its usual characters ; being sometimes 

 crystalline and extremely hard, and at others granular and comjiaratively soft. 

 Xot unfrequently it is composed of thin lamina^ alternately crystalline and 

 granular. The Committee have still to report that comparatively few objects 

 have been found in it. Amongst those which have presented themselves, are 

 stones of diff'erent kinds, charcoal, flint flakes and cores, and remains of various 

 animals, including the bear, fox, horse, and man. The stones, when not 

 fragments of limestone, are commonly well-rounded, and were probably 

 selected at the adjacent sea shore. One of the artificially formed flints has 

 the appearance of being a frag-ment of a polished celt, or axe, and is the only 

 specimen of the kind which has been found in the Cavern. Since the Second 

 lleport was sent in, a total of ten flakes and chips, of probably artificial 

 origin, have been met with in the Stalagmite. The human remains are a 

 tooth, and a portion of an upper jaw containing four teeth. They were 

 found lying together in the Vestibule, about 30 feet from the northern en- 

 trance of the Cavern, and deeply imbedded in the floor, which was 20 inches 

 thick. These interesting relics — the most ancient remains of man's osseous 



