ELLIOTT — HUMAN REMAINS NEAR STANHOPE. 
35 
cause of a cavern must have been a fracture in the limestone rock, 
consequent on the upheaval of the strata, and that water then finding 
access to the crack, would wear it out to its present dimensions. 
Fractures in this case would most probably take place when the 
" Eed Vein " was formed, which is only between two hundred and 
.-i three hundred yards distant 
m 
•V. 
North. Stanhope Burn. South. 
Fig. 1. — Ground plan of cavern district. 
a Mouth of Cave, b Bone Deposit, c Red Vein. 
d Where the water issues from the cave, e e Trees and 
brushwood before the quariy was worked, on hill-side ; 
angle of slope 45 degrees. 
from the cave, and crosses 
the ravine nearly at right- 
angles. This vein, which con- 
tains lead-ore, iron - stone, 
etc., is a wide one, requiring 
a wide fissure, and the force 
necessary to produce such a 
fissure would be sufficient to 
cause rents and small dislo- 
cations in the rocks at con- 
siderable distances. Besides 
this there are two other veins 
crossing the ravine at lesser 
distances from the cave, and 
these would still further in- 
crease the probability of an original fissure. 
The cave must be very old if we suppose it to have been formed 
by the water running down the ravine when on a level with its 
mouth or opening, seeing that 
the watercourse is now worn 
down ten or twelve feet below 
the cave's bottom. Again, if 
we suppose it to have been ex- 
cavated by the attrition of the 
waves of the sea during some re- 
mote period, when the waters of 
the ocean stood on a level with 
the cave, it must still have a very 
Fig. 2.-Transverse section of cave. aucieut Origin, for the CaVO is 
o Level of the Burn. 6 Level of cave (from a to situated UDWards of thirty miles 
ilOieet). c Osseous remains in the cave, (from ^ i.T. j j c 
itocUyards). d cave without remains, (from irom the Sea, and UpwardS 01 
base of to ground-une/ 7 ft), e Limestone. gjgj^^ hundred feet abovc its pre- 
sent level. This locality must have been submerged during the glacial 
period, as we have evidence of by the deposits of boulder clay ; and if 
the sea on receding should have remained on a level with the limestone 
for a great length of time, the result would have been the wearing 
down of the rock, or the hollowing out of crevices and caves in the 
exposed strata. 
In a certain place of the cave-flooring, the workmen recently came 
upon a large sheet of stalagmite of varying thickness, but averaging 
about four inches. This calcareous incrustation has been formed by 
the ceaseless dropping of water holding lime in solution, from the 
roof of the cave. On removing this crust and a small portion of fine 
