310 
JONES: EXPLORATION OF A CAVE AT ELBOLTON. 
At one time this pot-hole would be filled with clay, which after 
a time slipped through down to the cave floor. This mass of clay was 
seen to be two feet thick under the cave mouth, and spreading maiidy 
towards the east, resting on the angular stuff of loose stones. In 
this clay were found the jaws of the IJrsus ferox and some smaller 
carnivora. Similar clay deposits have been found beneath and 
amongst the stalagmitic floor, underneath the angular debris, at 
18 feet south. This stratum remains yet to be worked out, but from 
it we have already obtained numerous large bones, femurs, pelvis, &c., 
of bears, and giving promise of further finds when this stalagmite 
and the large fallen blocks of stone have been remove-i. As yet we 
have not sufficient data to determine the age of this clay deposit. 
In the cave we have found a few bone-pins with annular rings, 
similar to those found in" Belgian caves, also two or three worked 
bones the use of which is unknown. 
Amidst the debris we have come across a fe.v carried stones, 
grits for pot-boilers, two river-rolled limestone pebbles, and a 
smooth Silurian slate that may have been brought to sharpen their 
bone instruments. A few antlers of large red deer have been found 
in the same material, but none of them seem to have been used by 
the cave-men as tools. 
The work of excavation is still proceeding. The Cave Committee 
are grateful for the advice and assistance of more experienced 
explorers, and liope to continue until this small cave has been 
completely investigated. So far we think that the deposit of clay, 
containing bones of bear, &c., which underlies the loose stratum of 
angular stones was deposited prior to the occupation of the cave by 
man ; that Neolithic man made use of the cave first as a dwelling 
and sheltering place, and afterwards as a place of burial. 
