UPHILL BONE-CAVES. 
155 
probability it was a comparatively small fissure and has 
been destroyed by the subsequent quarrying operations. 
The next reference to the Uphill bone caves is in a paper by 
Mr. E. C. H. Day {GeoL Mag. vol. iii. 1866, p. 115), entitled, 
" On a Raised Beach and other Eecent Formations near 
Weston-super-Mare." This paper, though published in 1866, 
makes no reference to the new cave described by Mr. Pooley in 
1863. The author however says that he writes from memory, 
and perhaps at the time of his visit Mr. Pooley's cave had not 
been opened. He gives, however, a very clear account of the 
original cave described in Rutter's and Phelps' books, and also 
a good figure which shows the hyaena den as a small though 
definite cave, rather than simply the mouth of a chimney as 
in Rutter's figure. He also shows the entrance to the lower 
cave closed as it was at the time of its discovery by a mass of 
" head " or rain w^ash — an earthy deposit full of angular stones, 
and produced by subaerial denudation. The most interesting 
section of his paper is however his account of the connection of 
this cave with the evidence for former changes of level in the 
district. It will be remembered that while the upper cave 
was a hyaena den, the lower and far larger cave contained 
no bones of hyaenas or other animals not now found in 
Britain. It was not however the blocking of the entrance with 
" head " that prevented the occupation of the lower cave by 
hyaenas, but rather the fact that during the hyaena period the 
cave was under water owing to this part of the coast being 
depressed below sea level. This depression is shown by the 
occurrence of well-marked raised-beaches at Kew Stoke and 
Woodspring, which prove that at the time of their formation the 
land stood twenty to thirty feet lower than it does at present. 
The Kew Stoke raised-beach yielded bones and teeth of the 
horse and other animals whose remains were also found in the 
upper cave at Uphill, associated with the hyaena bones. The 
sand and cuttle bone met with in the lower cave were no 
doubt introduced during this submergence. 
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