PLEISTOCENE CAVE-DEPOSITS. 91 



mould lay between and amongst large blocks of limestone, some of which 

 rested upon it. 



2. Granular Stalagmite, frequently containing large blocks of limestone. 

 Thickness, one inch to five feet. 



3. Black Band, four inches thick, consisting mainly of small fragments 

 of charred wood ; occurred only in one part of the cave, where it occupied 

 an area of about 1 00 square feet. 



4. Cave-earth ; a light red clay, with many small angular fragments 

 and some large blocks of limestone ; of variable thickness ; excavated to 

 a depth of four feet. 



5. Crystalline Stalagmite, reaching in places about twelve feet in 

 thickness. 



6. Breccia, composed of sub-angular and rounded pieces of dark red 

 grit, with some quartz pebbles, embedded in a sandy matrix of the same 

 colour. This is the lowest and oldest of the deposits so far as yet known, 

 but its base has not yet been reached by the explorations. 



The uppermost deposit, the black mould, is of comparatively 

 recent origin. It contains articles of stone and bronze, and 

 remains of a number of animals, all of which are still found 

 living in England. None of the human relics needs date much 

 beyond Romano-British times, while many are certainly more 

 recent. With the underlying beds, however, the case is very 

 different. In the granular stalagmite were found "stones of 

 various kinds, shells of cockles and cuttle-fish, impressions of 

 ferns, charcoal, bones and teeth of bear, elephant, hyaena, 

 rhinoceros, horse, fox, and man, with flakes and cores of flint." 

 Human relics also occur plentifully in the black band, such as 

 numerous flint tools and some implements of bone, namely an 

 awl, a harpoon, and a needle having a well-formed eye. With 

 these were associated burnt bones, and remains of ox, deer, 

 badger, rhinoceros, hysena, etc. The cave-earth abounds in 

 animal remains, both of extinct and living species, and it also 

 contains numerous relics of man's handiwork. Here occur bones 

 and teeth of lion, bear, mammoth, rhinoceros, hysena, etc., along 

 with remains of reindeer, Irish elk, red-deer, wolf, fox, badger, 

 glutton, beaver, and other animals. The crystalline stalagmite 

 and the breccia have yielded numerous traces of the cave-bear, 

 and in the latter deposit were found implements of flint and 



