374 Proceedings of the Eoyal Physical Society. 



many other important objects might have rewarded a more 

 careful search. 



No Kjokken-moddings have been found on the coasts of 

 Angus and Mearns ; but it is not likely that the early inha- 

 bitants would adopt the open air pic-nic habits of their con- 

 temporaries on the flat shores of Denmark or the Moray 

 Firth, when they could get the shelter of a cave like that 

 of Warburton, so well suited for human occupation, facing 

 as it does due south, sheltered from the north and easterly 

 blasts, and elevated above the surrounding land, so as to 

 afford good drainage. On these cliffs the primrose, the 

 violet, and the Banunculus ficaria bloom several weeks earlier 

 than in the surrounding country ; good water can be got at 

 a few yards distance ; while the proximity of the sea, river, 

 and forests, would afford the means of supplying the wants 

 of a primitive race. 



The occurrence of human bones raises the question of 

 cannibalism ; but I do not think that the facts before us 

 are sufficient to enable us to answer it one way or other. 

 The mere presence of these bones is strong presumptive 

 evidence ; but it is quite possible that the cave may have 

 been used for the concealment of the victim of some modern 

 murder. 



After it was deserted as a human abode, the gradual 

 decay of the rock, the filtering of water with soil through 

 cracks in the roof, and the eddies of wind carrying in the 

 debris scattered round its entrance, are sufficient to explain 

 how the cave happened to be filled to the roof, as it was on 

 its discovery in 1847. 



Mr Bryson found, at the entrance of the cave, some iron 

 bolts, and the remains of an iron harpoon or spear. If these 

 were in such a position as to convince us that they were 

 contemporaneous with the bones, the date of the cave would 

 be brought down to a much more recent period than the 

 Kjokken-moddings ; but I think, with this single exception, 

 all the evidence goes to prove that the occupiers of the cave 

 had similar habits, and were in a similar stage of civilisation, 

 with the constructors of the Danish middens. 



