VoL 54.] EXPLOKATION OP TY NEWYDD GAYE8. 131 



IV. Connexion with the JS^EiGHBOUfiHooD and 

 Efynnon Beuno Caves. 



Besides making the excavations in the caves, we also dag holes 

 in the hillside above, in the valley below, and in the hoor of 

 Ffynnon Beuno Cave. 



Above us we found 1 to 2 feet of top soil and roots containing 

 many scattered stones of striated Denbighshire Grit, vein-quarfcz, 

 and Snowdonian erratics. Beyond the fence to the west there are 

 cultivated fields over which small boulders are scattered, the larger 

 having been gathered into heaps in the hedge. A few minutes' 

 search of either heaps or smaller stones was sufficient for obtain- 

 ing many specimens of granite and felsite. I sent a collection of 

 these to Dr. Hicks, who replied : — ' There are undoubted northern 

 fragments, — granite, quartzite, and some peculiar felstones ; these 

 probably came from the Lake District, though some may have had 

 a still more northerly home. Others, grits and felstones of various 

 kinds, might have come from the Welsh mountains, west of the 

 Vale of Clwyd. They resemble rocks found in situ in the Snow- 

 donian area, Arenig, etc' 



In the valley we made three excavations, at 24, 40, and 

 60 feet above the brook. They all showed 1 to 2 feet of top 

 soil, under which was a Boulder Clay composed chiefly of local 

 material, but with many erratics. The material, as a whole, was 

 quite different from anything that we found in the caves. In each 

 case this rested directly on the rock. The highest of the three 

 excavations struck the vertical face of the limestone, and in the 

 lowest corners there appeared to be fewer erratics than above, but 

 I could not distinguish two separate beds. 



We also made a new shaft in the floor of Pfynnon Beuno Cave, 

 near the position marked as section 2, in the plan given by 

 Dr. Hicks in his paper on that cave, which was read before the 

 Society, and published in this Journal.' The following is Dr. Hicks's 

 description of the section: — 'The surface -loam (1), about 1 foot 

 in thickness, contained a few bones of sheep, etc. . . . Under about 

 6 inches of a breccia (2) made up of angular fragments of lime- 

 stone, the reddish cave-earth (3) containing the remains was 

 found. . . . ITnder the reddish cave-earth was found a yellowish 

 band, not stalagmitic, but yet more coherent than the cave-earth, and 

 seeming, from its appearance, to indicate that it had been the floor 

 of the den. Under this was a gravelly material (4) made up 

 mainly of fragments derived from the hills above, and containing 

 no bones.' 



This gravel Dr. Hicks only tested at intervals, but did not 

 remove. When we examined an undisturbed place, we found that 

 the yellow-clay layers were very similar to those in the Eastern 

 Cave, except that there was no continued lamination, but the 

 whole mass crumbled into small flakes. The gravel was much like 

 our sandy gravel, but without pieces of stalagmite. 



1 Vol. xUi (1886) p. 5, fig. 2, & pp. 6, 7. 



k2 



