A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



The Catthdown Bone-Cave. — Mr. McEnery found human bones in Kent's Cavern 

 beneath the stalagmite, but under such circumstances as to lead him to form the opinion that they had 

 been placed there after the remains of extinct mammalia had been deposited. As we have previ- 

 ously noticed, on the authority of Colonel Hamilton Smith, human bones w^ere observed, and dis- 

 regarded in one of the Oreston Caves, some fifty-seven years since. In the first instance w^e are 

 compelled to accept the doubt of Mr. McEnery, and the second is open to criticism, apparently for 

 want of confirmation ; we must therefore admit that up to 1886 there existed no reliable evidence 

 that the bones of man and extinct mammalia had been found in any of the Devonshire bone-caves 

 in undoubted original association. 



In the autumn of the above-mentioned year this uncertainty disappeared, for bones of the cave- 

 men of Devonshire were discovered at Cattedown, Plymouth, in juxtaposition with the remains of 

 the cave hyaena. The Cattedown Bone-Cave was accidentally discovered by some workmen who 

 were employed by Messrs. Burnard & Alger to remove limestone from an old quarry at Cattedown 

 for the purpose of providing stone for quay extension on the northern shore of the Cattewater. It was 

 situated — for it is now destroyed — about 150 yds. north of the old shore of the Cattewater, in a 

 line with No. 7 warehouse, and Messrs. Burnard & Alger's office. 



This old quarry had been excavated many years since down to some 60 ft. below the clifF 

 surface, and the old upper floor of a portion of the excavation was being worked down to a lower 

 level when a fissure was broken into. This was seen to be filled with soil and small stones, the 

 debris of the former workers of the quarry, and on clearing it out a few ox bones were observed 

 which, from their condition, were indicative of considerable antiquity. Recognizing the possibility 

 of more finds being made underneath, Messrs. Burnard & Alger bore the cost of an exploration 

 which extended over several months, and placed its conduct in the hands of the late Mr. R. N. 

 Worth, F.G.S., his son, Mr. R. Hansford Worth, C.E., and the writer. 



Before briefly dealing with the contents of the cavern, it may be stated that it consisted of a 

 gallery 54 ft. long, pointing north and south in the direction of a natural jointing of the rock. 

 This gallery was only 4 to 5 ft. in width, but expanded into a chamber at each end. Both these 

 chambers had a length of 20 ft. That of the south end was about 5 ft. wide and descended to a 

 depth of 9 ft. below the recent quarry level. 



The greatest width of the northern chamber was 8 ft., with a depth of 13 ft. — deep enough 

 to admit the tide at high water. The gallery connecting the chambers did not descend more than 

 2 ft., so that the lowest depths of these chambers were separated by nearly 20 ft. of rock (see Fig. 2). 



The original height of the cavern, or whether it led into other fissures, is unknown, for the 

 rock above it was removed many years ago. It is probable that the cave was the nethermost of a 

 series of caverns, for the limestone at Cattedown is honeycombed with cavities and fissures of vary- 

 ing dimensions. Where these cavities occurred in the operations of quarrying they formed con- 

 venient receptacles for ' spoil,' and the modern filling of the Cattedown Bone-Cave may be thus 

 accounted for. This ' spoil ' could be easily distinguished from the natural deposits on which it 

 rested, and when it was removed the strata of stalagmitic floor, breccia, granular stalagmite and cave- 

 earth were clearly distinct. In the northern chamber the total depth of material excavated was 

 27 ft., and of this 20 ft. was more or less ossiferous. 



The bones in the stalagmitic breccia represented the remains of man, hyaena, wolf and deer, 

 the latter predominating. Portions of skeletons were found more or less complete, and indicated 

 that when deposited they were clothed with flesh, and that there had been no subsequent dis- 

 turbance. The lowest human skull was found at 7 ft. below the stalagmitic breccia, but human 

 bones and teeth occurred at the lowest point reached. The feature of the concrete floor was that 

 it contained a great many remains of the hog, whilst the most important finds in the cave-earth 

 were humeri and teeth of the cave-lion, a radius and vertebra of rhinoceros, associated with teeth 

 and bones of man. 



Compared with the breccia the remains in the cave-earth were neither so numerous nor so 

 complete in partial skeleton form, and suggested a more gradual accumulation. 



The concrete floor and cave-earth were probably produced slowly by the drainage of water into 

 the cave, and this may also have been the vehicle for the introduction of the fragmentary animal 

 remains. The stalagmitic breccia, on the other hand, suggests that its component parts inixed up 

 with the bodies of human beings and animals were deposited by some sudden and violent rushing of 

 water into the cave. This apparent connexion, either with the recesses of other then existing 

 caverns or the surface, suggests some cataclysm which swept the bodies in a confused mass into the 

 cave, and piled them up at the very end of the fissure. This disaster must have affected a consider- 

 able local area, for it collected human beings, hyaenas, wolves and deer, and buried them pell-mell 

 in a common grave, deep in the recesses of the limestone. 



A few fragments of charcoal were found in the breccia, and fewer still in the concrete floor, 

 and traces were observed in the cave-earth. There occurred in the cave-earth of the northern 

 chamber a natural flint pebble 4f in. long and 2f in. wide, of which a portion had been broken off 



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