512 Dr. Henry Hiclis — Bone- Caves of North Wales. 



Some album grcecum was also found in eacli of the caverns, therefore 

 the evidence points conchisively to their having been dens occupied 

 by beasts of prey. I think we are quite justified also in suj)posing 

 from the positions of the flakes and worked bones, that the caverns 

 were occupied by man, or at least that the district was inhabited by 

 man when the Mammoth, Khinoceros, Reindeer, Hyeena, etc., roamed 

 about the area. The bones found in this cavern belonged to the 

 following animals, viz. Lion, Wild Cat, Hyasna, Bear, Wolf, Fox, 

 Wild Boar, Great Irish Deer, Eeindeer, Eed Deer, Roebuck, Bos, 

 Mammoth, Rhinoceros, and Horse. The remains were much more 

 plentiful in the Fynnon Beuno than in the Cae Gwyn Cave. Among 

 the specimens found in the two caverns, there were over 80 jaws 

 belonging to various animals, and more than 1300 loose teeth, in- 

 cluding about 400 Rhinoceros, 15 Mammoth, 180 Hyeena, and 500 

 Horse teeth. Other bones and fragments of bones occurred also in 

 very great abundance. 



As these caverns are over 400 feet above present sea-level, and 

 nearly 300 feet above the river Clwyd (the height given in my paper 

 to the Geologists' Association was understated), it is clear that very 

 great physical changes must have taken place in this area since the time 

 that the marine sand was conveyed into these caverns. The broken 

 stalagmite floor, sometimes 10 to 12 inches in thickness, and the 

 broken stalactites 6 to 8 inches across, show that the water action 

 must have been also of a violent nature. The position of the bones 

 in some places under still adherent parts of this stalagmite, and the 

 presence of marine sand in the hollow parts of the bones show that 

 the bones must have been in the caverns before the sea finally 

 receded from them. The presence also of a material, in every 

 respect like the Boulder-clay of the district filling up the caverns, 

 points to the probability that the so-called Upper Boulder-clays of 

 this district were deposited, for the most part at the time, or subse- 

 quent to the infilling of these caverns. Along the hill-sides in the 

 ravine in which the caverns are situated, sands and clays similar to 

 those found in the caverns, and containing marine shells, are found 

 at about the same horizon, and in the hills to the S.E. at much 

 greater elevations. 



Cae Gwyn Cave is over 60 feet, and Fynnon Beuno 42 feet above 

 the level of the little stream, a tributary of the Clwyd, in the ravine 

 in which they are situated. These facts suggest the following as the 

 probable changes indicated by the deposits in the caverns. The 

 lowest deposit in the caverns consisting almost entirely of local 

 materials, was introduced into them by the river which then flowed 

 in the valley at a very much higher level than at present. As time 

 went on the valley deepened and the caverns were above the reach 

 of the floods. They then became the abode of Hyeenas and other 

 beasts of prey, and during part of the time were probably occu- 

 pied by man. Subsequently there was a period of great sub- 

 mergence, and when the caverns were on a level with the sea, they 

 were filled with sandy material and the bones were embedded in it. 

 The following are the results which have to be accounted for : — 



