300 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



DERBYSHIRE CAVES. 



Fifteenth Interim Report of Committee appointed to co-operate with a Com- 

 mittee of the Royal Anthropological Institute in the exploration of Caves 

 in the Derbyshire District (Mr. M. C. Burkitt, Chairman ; Mr. A. 

 Leslie Armstrong, Secretary ; Prof. H. J. Fleure, F.R.S., Miss 

 D. A. E. Garrod, Dr. J. Wilfrid Jackson, Prof. L. S. Palmer, 

 Mr. H. J. E. Peake). 



Creswell Crags. — Mr. Leslie Armstrong, F.S.A., reports as follows : 



' Boat House Cave. — The work here has proved both arduous and baffling 

 owing to unexpected difficulties encountered. In my last report reference 

 is made to the removal of material introduced into the cave as puddling, 

 when the embankment of the adjoining lake was constructed. This 

 averages 6 ft. in thickness, two-thirds of it being stiff red clay. At the 

 time of writing the 1936 report what was assumed to be breccia, or stalag- 

 mite, covering the floor of the cave, had been reached over a small area, 

 but further excavation revealed that this substance was concrete laid 

 down before the introduction of the puddled clay, and not stalagmite. 

 As the work proceeded this concrete was found to rise along the side 

 of the cave in a series of 12-in. steps and to extend in the form of a wall, 

 2 ft. thick and 5 ft. in height, across the entrance. Owing to its thickness 

 and consistency, the concrete on the floor resisted all efforts to break through 

 it by means of wedges and chisels and, ultimately, blasting has had to be 

 resorted to. For the carrying out of this I am indebted to the Bolsover 

 Colliery Company and to the Manager of the Creswell CoUiery, who kindly 

 furnished the necessary drilling machine and explosives and permitted one 

 of their expert shot firers to do the blasting. An area of 6 ft. by 2 ft. 6 in, 

 of the floor concrete has been removed in this manner and the underlying 

 cave earth is now exposed in readiness for excavation. A superficial ex- 

 amination of the cave earth after the final shot yielded a mineralised bone, 

 apparently reindeer, and other material which indicates that it is true cave 

 earth. The whole of the material overlying the concrete has now been 

 removed and its surface is exposed over half the area of the cave ; therefore 

 a systematic examination of the cave earth can be proceeded with and will 

 shortly be undertaken. 



'T/ze Yew Tree Shelter. — This is situated on the north side of the Gorge, 

 opposite to the Boat House Cave. As the work in the Boat House did not 

 require constant supervision, the excavation of this extensive rock shelter, 

 which has been awaiting a suitable opportunity, was commenced in the 

 autumn of 1936 and is still in hand. A sparse, but consistent, occupation 

 is revealed which, in general character, appears to be contemporary with 

 that of the Lower Middle and Middle zones of Mother Grundy's Parlour. 

 One quartzite implement, from the base of the deposit, is of Mousterian 

 type. The occupation of the site was an occasional and not a constant 

 occupation, but the abundance of pot boilers and burnt flints indicate that 

 it was a hving and not merely a workshop site. The associated fauna, so 

 far recovered, includes mammoth, reindeer, horse, bison and hyaena. 



' 112 sq. ft. have been completely excavated and the upper layer over a 

 further 70 sq. ft. examined. 



'Whalley Rock Shelter. — In January, Dr. Arthur Court, of Chesterfield, 

 brought to my notice a small rock shelter at Whalley, situated geographically 



