606 W. BOYD DAWKINS ON THE MAMMAL-FAUNA 



D. Robin-Hood and Church-Hole Caves occupied by Brit-Welsh 



Refugees. 



This group of prehistoric and historic animals is identical with 

 that which has been met with in the caves of Dowkerbottom, Kelko, 

 and Victoria in Yorkshire, of Kirkhead in North Lancashire, of 

 Poole's Cave, near Buxton, and of Thor's Cave, near Ashbourne, 

 in Staffordshire ; and in all these it is associated with the same set 

 of human implements and ornaments, which are proved by the 

 coins to belong to the period which lies between the departure of 

 the Roman legions from Britain and the conquest by the English. 

 All these caves, as may be seen by a reference to my work on ' Cave- 

 hunting,' have been used as places of shelter by Brit-Welsh refugees 

 flying from their homes before the face of the English invaders. 

 They complete and round off the story of the conquest revealed by 

 the lament of Gildas, and by the blackened ruins of the Roman 

 towns and villages, and they testify to the truth of the views as to 

 the nature of the English conquest held by the eminent historians 

 Messrs. Green and E. A. Ereeman. 



The date of the occupation of these caves by the Brit-Welsh pro- 

 bably falls within the fifth or sixth centuries, and is not later than 

 the time when that district fell into the power of the Mercian or 

 Northumbrian Angles, an event which certainly took place when 

 the kingdom of Elmet (district of Leeds and Bradford) was con- 

 quered at the close of the sixth century. The same group of remains 

 may reasonably be looked for in all the caves which lie within the 

 area fought over so long in this country, by the Brit- Welsh fragments 

 of the Roman empire on the one hand, and the ruthless, extermi- 

 nating English on the other, who won it with their own good swords, 

 and whose descendants are now founding other En glands beyond 

 seas by similar though less violent methods. 



IY. Condition or Eossil Remains in the Ceeswell Caves. 



The bones, antlers, and teeth in these two caverns are divisible 

 into three distinct groups, so far as relates to their condition : — (1) 

 those which are gnawed by the Hytenas ; (2) those which have been 

 broken up and, in some cases, burnt by Man ; (3) those which have 

 been attacked by the carbonic acid in the rainwater which has per- 

 colated through the cave-earth and red sand. 



By this last active agent they have sometimes been reduced to very 

 fantastic forms. In some cases the enamel of the tooth is worn away, 

 in others the dentine : many of the antler-tips have been so sharpened 

 by it that they may readily be mistaken for human implements. 

 That, for example, figured in my last paper (fig. 1) I now consider 

 not to be of proved human workmanship. Wherever also the surface 

 of the bone or antler has been crushed the chemical action has been 

 intensified, and a hollow cavity is the result. In working out this 

 point I am indebted to my colleague Prof. Schorlemmer, E.R.S., for 

 proving it by experiment in his laboratory. 



I have never observed the results of this chemical action so marked 



