DAVIS: ANCIE^^T FLINT-USERS OF YORKSHIRE. 
417 
Cave, near Settle, but they are all neolithic. A bone was found at a 
much lower depth in the cave, associated with bones and teeth of 
hyena and other animals which the hyenas had devoured ; this bone 
was considered by some authorities to be human. If this pro- 
blematical evidL'uce should prove to be correct, it will take man in 
Yorkshire to tlie Palaeolithic age. The investigations conducted by 
Mr. ^Y. Pengelly, F.R.S., at Kent's Cavern, near Torquay, have 
rendered available a large amount of information respecting the 
Palaeolithic cave men. The lowest layer consisted of a breccia of 
sub-angular and rounded fragments of grit rock and contained bones 
of bear, fragments of jaws of lion with teeth, remains of fox and 
other animals, together with rude massive flint tools : above the 
breccia ^vith remains of bear, is a thick bed of crystalline stalagmite, 
followed by a deposit of red clay with fragments of limestone, which 
Mr Pengelly termed " cave-earth ; " the cave-earth is full of bones 
of a large number of animals, including the cave hyena and lion, wild 
cat, wolf, fox, bear, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, horse, deer, voles, 
&c. ; amongst the bones were flint implements, a stone hammer, a 
bone pin and harpoon, evidence of the existence of man at the same 
period. The cave-earth was succeeded by a black layer of charcoal 
about four inches in thickness, the product of the fires of the cave- 
men who had occupied the cave after the hyenas had been dislodged. 
Great numbers of flint implements and burnt bones were found in 
this layer, as well as some implements of bone Then follows 
60 inches of stalagmite and another layer of black earth, in which 
are remains of the Romano-Celtic races, similar to the layer of black 
earth and charcoal found near the surface of the Victoria Cave. The 
age of the older deposits in the cave are variously estimated and 
depend mostly on the rate at which stalagmite is formed. ]\Ir. Pengelly 
estimates that at the rate of 1 inch of stalagmite in a thousand years 
the 60 inches between the Celtic and cave-men occupations, would 
occupy 60,000 years in' formation. Such a computation, however, 
is obviously dependent on an assumption which may be entirely 
without foundation, because the rate at which stalagmite is deposited 
depends on the amount of carbonic anhydride in the water which 
permeates the limestone rock, and the consequent amount of lime 
