826 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



Kent's Cavern, Torquay- — Report of Committee appointed to 

 co-operate with the Torquay Natural History Society in investigating 

 Kent's Cavern (Sir A. Keith, Chairman ; Prof. J. L. Myres, Secre- 

 tary ; Mr. G. A. Garfitt, Prof. W. J. Sollas, Mr. Mark L. Sykes). 



When this Committee was appointed, without grant, in September 1925, there was no 

 immediate prospect of excavation in Kent's Cavern. Early in the winter, however, 

 leave was obtained from the proprietor of the Cavern for a preliminary examination 

 of the part known as the ' Vestibule ' ; and an emergency grant of £10 was made by 

 the Council of the British Association, to supplement, if required, the resources of the 

 Torquay Society. Grants of the same amount made by the Royal Society and the 

 Society of Antiquaries are gratefully acknowledged, and also sums placed at the dis- 

 posal of the Committee through the prompt and friendly help of Mr. Ralph Griffin, 

 F.S.A., from a fund for the employment of ex-Service men. Most of the work of this 

 season, however, has been done voluntarily by members of the Torquay Natural History 

 Society, whose report is appended. To them personally and to their Society for pro- 

 viding work-room and storage in the Torquay Museum, the Committee desires to 

 express its grateful acknowledgment. The Committee asks to be reappointed, with 

 the balance in hand, and renewal of leave to collect funds from other sources as required. 



Report on an Excavation in Kent's Hole, Torquay, January-June 1926. 



During the winter of 1925 a Committee of the Torquay Natural History Society 

 was formed, to work with a Committee of the British Association, for the purpose of 

 carrying on an excavation in Kent's Hole. 



Prof. W. R. Sollas, F.R.S., having visited the Cavern in January 1926, a start was 

 made in the chamber selected by him towards the end of that month. The work has 

 been continued, whenever it has been possible to get a working party together, and the 

 deposits were in a condition to permit of careful sorting, up to the end of June, with 

 short breaks at Easter and Whitsuntide. 



The nucleus of the working party has consisted of the undersigned, who have been 

 present throughout the excavations, and desire to acknowledge the occasional and 

 welcome help of Mrs. Dowie, Miss Marjorie Selman, Mr. G. C. Spence, and Mr. W. G. 

 Shannon, M.Sc, F.G.S. 



Mr. G. A. Garfitt, F.S.A., a member of the Committee of the British Association, 

 visited Torquay during February, and gave us the pleasure and benefit of his company 

 during six full working days. 



The chamber selected for examination was that known as the Vestibule, into which 

 the northern entrance to the cavern leads. At its greatest extent, its dimensions are 

 40 ft. by 32 ft. It was decided to dig a trench along the entire length of its north wall, 

 from the adjacent east wall to the junction with the adjoining Sloping Chamber. A 

 beginning was made by sinking two pits, some 10 ft. from each other, near the west 

 end of the wall, and a third pit was opened soon after at its east end. In the course of 

 the excavation these pits have been merged into a continuous trench 41 ft. long, which 

 runs from end to end of the north wall, and slightly overlaps into the Sloping Chamber. 

 At its east end it passes under the site of the Magdalenian hearth, discovered by 

 William Pengelly in 1866, and known as the Black Band. A beginning of a trench 

 has also been made along the east wall, in the direction of the entrance. 



The depth of the trench varies, according to the nature of the deposit encountered, 

 from 2 ft. 6 in. to 13 ft. Over quite half of the ground the work has been largely of the 

 nature of pure quarrying, owing to the presence, in large numbers, of fallen blocks of 

 limestone of considerable size. The best area has been near the east wall, where a good 

 section has been kept going nearly 4 ft. deep, and has yielded a heavy proportion of 

 the finds. 



By the end of June, two sizable areas of crystalline stalagmite had been revealed 

 in the floor of the trench, at each end of it. It is, however, too early to say that these 

 represent portions of an actual stalagmite floor. 



So far as it has been physically possible, the deposits have been taken out foot by 

 foot in slices 3 ft. long by 1 ft. broad by 1 ft. in vertical depth. Every find, whether of 

 flints, bones or teeth, has been carefully measured in regard to its depth in the deposit, 

 and entered in a Field Book on the spot, to be subsequently transferred to a Journal. 



