ON Kent's cavern, Devonshire. 31 



renders it impossible for any one to doubt that Man occupied Devonsliire 

 when it was also the home of the extinct Hon, hyaena, bear, rhinoceros, mam- 

 moth, and their contemporaries. 



Of the tools alluded to, two have already been mentioned — the bone awl and 

 the " harpoon " found in the Black Band, beneath the Stalagmitic Floor, in 

 the Vestibule. As has been stated, in this same thin band there occurred, 

 with the implements just mentioned, teeth of rhinoceros, hyaena, and other 

 of the common cave mammals ; and the story they tell is at once clear and 

 resistless. These, however, are neither the only," nor the best bone imple- 

 ments which have been exhumed. Two others have -been met with, and both 

 of them in the Red Cave-earth, below the Black Band. One is a portion of a 

 highly finished " harpoon," 2^ inches in length, and dififering from that pre- 

 viously mentioned, in the form of its point, and in being barbed on two sides. 

 To use a botanical term, the barbs are " opposite," not " alternate," as is the 

 case with many of the doubly-barbed implements of the kind found in cer- 

 tain French caverns. It is worthy of remark that whilst in France the same 

 cavern has rarely, if ever, yielded both singly- and doubly-barbed " harpoons," 

 an example of each kind has been found in Kent's Hole. This implement 

 was met with on March 18th, 1867, in the Vestibule, in the second foot-level 

 of Bed Cave-earth. Vertically above these 2 feet of loam, there lay the Black 

 Baud about 3 inches thick, and containing flint flakes and remains of extinct 

 Mammals ; over this again came the Stalagmitic Floor, IS inches thick, gra- 

 nular towards its base, crystalline and laminated towards the upper surface, 

 continuous in all directions, unquestionably intact, and without fracture or 

 crevice of any kind ; and supei-posed on this, was the ordinary Black Mould 

 with Romano-British potsherds. Like all bones found in the Cave-earth, 

 the '^ harpoon," when applied to the tongue, firmly adheres to it. It has the 

 condition which, from the spot it occupies, might have been looked for. 



The second bone tool from the Cave-earth is a well-finished pin, 3\ 

 inches in length. It was found on the 3rd of January, 1807, and, like 

 all the other bone tools, in the Vestibule. It was met with in the fourth 

 foot-level below the Stalagmite — the greatest depth to which the ercavation 

 has been carried, — and in immediate contact with the crown of a molar of 

 Ehinoceros tichorhinus. Vertically over this specimen there lay, in ascending 

 order, 4 feet of Cave-earth ; then the Black Band ; over this the Stalga- 

 mitic Floor, 20 inches thick, perfectly intact, and continuous in all directions ; 

 this was surmounted by the Black Mould ; and the whole was crowned 'R'ith 

 large blocks of Limestone, cemented with carbonate of lime into a firm breccia, 

 which reached the roof of the Cavern. The pin is well made, almost per- 

 fectly round, tapers uniformly from the head to the point, and has a consi- 

 derable polish. It is, perhaps, more than probable that it was an article of 

 the toilet, and hence the polish it bears, instead of having been designed, may 

 have been the result of the constant use to which it was put. It may pro- 

 bably be said of its original possessor, as it has been of a more modern savage, 



" The shaggy wolfish skin he wore, 

 rinnecl by a polished bone before." 



_ Though the Committee abstain from drawing any inference from the fact, 

 since it applies to a limited number of objects only, it may be worthy of re- 

 mark that the most highly finished implements, whether of flint or of bone, 

 are those which have been found at the lowest levels. 



Each of the great divisions of the Cavern^the Great Chamber, the Vesti- 

 bule, and the Lecture Hall— in which the researches of the Committee have 



