18 i REPORT— 1903. 



Another system of connected caves was subsequently explored there, 

 and both groups of cavities were found to be prolific in remains of animals 

 now extinct in Ireland, and in human relics of different periods. 



Edenvale House stands on a ridge of Carboniferous Limestone, which 

 forms the western side of a deeply cleft anticlinal ; in the chasm thus 

 formed lies a lake of relatively great depth, which is surrounded by a steep 

 declivity on all sides but one. 



The first two cavities referred to, which have been named the Alice 

 and the Gwendoline caves, open in a low escarpment on the western side 

 of the Edenvale ridge. Their aspect is southerly. 



The Alice cave, after running a straight course for 80 feet, was found 

 to terminate in an upward opening that had been tilled in with earth and 

 stones, and contained material resembling that found in kitchen middens. 

 At 40 feet from the mouth of this cave a gallery branched off, and con- 

 nected it with the Gwendoline cave on a lower level. 



At 15 feet from the mouth of the Alice cave a projection in the rocky 

 wall was worn smooth, as if by the constant rubbing of creatures which 

 had passed in and out. 



In most parts of these caves two strata were distinguishable : — 



1st and upper. Brown earth, occa.sionally containing calcareous tufa. 

 In this stratum was found much charcoal, bones of man and domestic 

 animals in a fragmentary state, and also objects of human art of various 

 descriptions — a bone pin or awl, an amber bead, a bracelet of bronze, and 

 another of gold. 



2nd. A lower stratum composed of clay, generally of a yellow-ochre 

 tint, but sometimes purplish. 



Bones and teeth of reindeer and bear were found chiefly in the latter 

 stratum, and the ursine remains indicated that they belonged to individuals 

 of great size. 



Having removed the fossiliferous deposits of the above caves, opera- 

 tions were commenced at the orifice of the second group, opening in the 

 cliff-face under Edenvale House overlooking the lake. 



This cave runs 60 feet into the rock, but is traversed by a series of 

 galleries, some of which are wide and confluent. One of these galleries 

 was excavated for a distance of 60 feet, and it was found to be crossed 

 by another cave that led out to the cliff, but whose orifice is blocked. 



This system of caves is so extensive and complex that we have named 

 it the Catacombs. It has proved still more fruitful than the former caves 

 in relics of man and of extinct animals. Human bones were frequent, 

 and in one place an assemblage of these included a cranium not far from 

 which there were two stout iron knife-blades. A strap of bronze bearing 

 a buckle was found elsewhere, ornamented with an interlaced pattern in 

 silver plating. In other parts of the Catacombs were chipped flint 

 scrapers, a bone piercer, a tusk of a large boar pierced as if to form an 

 amulet, and a marine shell similarly pierced. 



Several marine shells occurred, although the sea is many miles away 

 from the site ; also much charcoal and bones of horse, ox, pig, sheep or 

 goat and dog. 



Bones and teeth of bear and reindeer were of daily occuri'ence in 

 excavating the deposits, and in a few cases we obtained pieces of the bones 

 and of the antlers of the great Irish deer (Irish Elk). 



The large collections of human and animal remains found in the Eden- 



