EARLY MAN 



not flakes struck off from the same, and the animal remains found were exclusively those of the 

 bear. This deposit was sealed up by an enormous floor of stalagmite (carbonate of lime) of 

 crystalline texture, as much as loft. or 12 ft. thick, which, like the breccia, contained remains 

 of the bear. Resting on the top of this was the cave-earth of light red clay mixed up with 

 fragments of limestone covered with films of stalagmite. This bed was not present in all parts of the 

 cave explored, and its maximum thickness was 4 ft. Here the flint and chert implements were 

 flakes struck off from the nodule or core, and exhibited a decided advance in manufacture 

 compared with the more rudely shaped palaeoliths found in the deposit underneath. The cave- 

 earth yielded a bone needle, spear-heads of bone or horn, hammer-stones, whet-stones, a perforated 

 badger's tooth, and a hare's leg-bone with holes neatly drilled in it, suggesting its use as a whistle. 



The top of the cave-earth was partially covered with wood charcoal about 4 in. thick, described 

 as the black band, and on this, still ascending through the strata, was a granular floor of stalagmite 

 varying from I in. to nearly 5 ft. in thickness. 



Water containing carbonic acid derived from organic matter slowly dissolves limestone, and 

 with this in solution it percolated through the roof and sides of the cavern. The dissolved lime- 

 stone (carbonate of lime) either crystallized, or became deposited in the granular form. Even 

 supposing an abundance of drip water extra charged with carbonic acid, in fact all the conditions 

 favourable for speedy deposit, a very long period of time must have elapsed before such thickness 

 of stalagmite could possibly be formed. 



We have not yet done with the ascending strata, for resting on the granular stalagmitic floor 

 was a layer of dark, decayed vegetable matter, 3 in. to 1 2 in. thick, which for the sake of distinc- 

 tion was described as the black mould 



In this were found remains of the Bronze Age, weapons and implements of bronze, a cake of 

 smelted copper, succeeded by spindle-whorls, bone combs, and ornamented pottery of Early 

 British down to Romano-British times, the bones of animals, and also those of man. 



All these strata were finally covered with blocks of limestone, some small, others weighing 

 scores of tons, which had from time to time become detached from the roof of the cavern. These 

 were partially cemented by calcareous drip, and the whole formed a natural sarcophagus, under- 

 neath which lay buried the story of the primitive men of Devon.' 



Man was evidently living in or near Kent's Cavern during the formation of the breccia, 

 preceding the hyaena. 



It was noticed during Mr. Pengelly's exploration that while no animal relics were found below 

 7 ft. from the cave floor, three palaeolithic tools made from flint nodules were found in the eighth-foot 

 level, and several flint chips, struck off in implement making, occurred in the ninth or lowest foot 

 level. Man's handiwork was the oldest of all. 



The history as revealed by the strata may be summed up as follows : — The palaeolithic breccia 

 men had massive tools made of nodules of flint, roughly chipped and irregular in outline, but no 

 delicate flakes, or implements of bone. They left no trace of fire behind them. The later men of 

 the cave-earth possessed carefully chipped and symmetrically formed but unpolished flakes of flint ; 

 they had bone needles, could make a fire, and adorned their persons with necklaces or bracelets 

 strung with the perforated teeth of mammals. They had no pottery, metal, or spindle-whorls. 

 These were, however, possessed by the succeeding men of the black mould, who were advanced 

 enough in civilization to smelt and alloy metals and wear amber beads. 



The Torbryan Caves near Denbury. — These are variously described as caves, rock 

 shelters, tunnels, or fissures in the limestone at Torbryan. They were mostly explored by the 

 unaided efforts of Mr. J. L. Widger, and were reported on by the late Mr. J. L. Lee.' They 

 contained a bone bed with the usual cave fauna, including teeth of hyaena, bear, and rhinoceros. 

 A flint implement described as of the older type was found under two thick floors of stalagmite. 

 The cave was evidently also occupied by a neolithic race, for it yielded implements of that period 

 and much charcoal. 



Happaway Cavern, Torquay. — This was explored by Mr. Pengelly and his son with their 

 own hands, and to avoid any possibility of mistakes, or worse, the entrance was blocked and a door 

 inserted. When the explorers were not in the cavern the door was kept locked, and the key remained 

 in the possession of the careful and indefatigable explorer. 



The general character of the zoological remains was that of a recent fauna, but a decided air 

 of antiquity was imparted by the discovery of a few relics of the hyaena and rhinoceros. It seemed 

 apparently not improbable that the cavern was more or less filled in palaeolithic times, was subse- 

 quently almost emptied (by water), and then was nearly completely refilled in times long subsequent 

 to the British hyaena and his extinct contemporaries. The absence of a separating floor of stalagmite 

 allowed the occasional commingling of the new deposits with the old, and thus deprived the cavern of 

 anthropological value, and caused the enthusiastic labour bestowed on it to become of but little value. 



' See Section C for sequence of strata. N.B. — Breccia not shown. ' Proc. Soc. yinlij. (ser. 2), viii, 247. 



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