564 
REPORT ON THE EXPLORATION OP BRIXHAM CAVE. 
of bones and worked flints at the same places in the cave-earth — it is well to remember 
that the relation of the cave-earth to the shingle is constant and uniform, and, further, 
that the cave-earth itself is overlaid throughout a great part of the cave (including 
those parts where the flint implements Nos. 4, 8, 12, 13, and 30 were found) by a layer 
of stalagmite in which bones of Bear, Reindeer, and Elephant or Rhinoceros were, in 
several places, found imbedded. 
The Cave furnishes also some other slight indications of man’s presence. Dr. Fal- 
coner alludes to part of a Reindeer’s horn (No. 4 find) which has an apparently artificial 
incision*; and Mr. Evans also draws attention to the discovery of a small “ cylindrical 
pin or rod of ivory,” but the position of this is not certain. Two nearly round pebbles 
were also found in the shingle bed — one of siliceous sandstone, weighing 1 lb. 3 oz., in 
the West Chamber, and the other of red sandstone, weighing 5§ oz., at the entrance of 
the Steep Slide Hole. The first is one of those hard pebbles forming the Budleigh- 
Salterton conglomerates, — beds which do not range westward of the Ex. This pebble 
shows, on the side opposite to that by which it is most readily grasped by the hand, the 
distinct marks and indentations arising from use as a hammer-stone. On the smaller 
and softer pebble these are less marked. These specimens are unique, and the first is 
of especial interest, as it seems to have been brought from a distance and could not have 
been introduced by natural causes into the cavef. 
Amongst the debris of bed No. 3, Dr. Percy noticed some pebbles of broAvn hematite, 
a mineral which does not occur on Windmill Hill. Mr. Pengelly refers them to 
Furzeham Hill; at the same time they may have been derived from denuded portions 
of Parkham Hill, at the base of which this mineral is still found, and which is on the 
line of the valley above the cave ; otherwise they must have been introduced by artificial 
means. 
But although the evidence, taken altogether, sufficiently indicates the existence of 
man at the cave period, we doubt whether Brixham Cave was at any time inhabited by 
man. Caves have constantly been places of resort for uncivilized man, either for shelter 
or for security. When resorted to for these objects, traces of his habitation, in the form 
of refuse (whether of bones cast away at meals, of broken and lost tools of daily use, 
and, after the discovery of fire, of hearths and their surroundings), necessarily occur in 
quantities more or less abundant, according to the length of man’s habitation. Further, 
when a common and brittle material is in use for implements, the number lost or spoilt 
must always have been large, as in the case of the caves of Les Eyzies, Moustiers, and 
others in the south of France, where rudely worked flints occur literally in thousands. 
Again, man usually takes possession of a cave when dry and capable of affording per- 
manent shelter, so that the layers of debris formed during his period of occupancy are 
* Mr. Busk sees reason to question this conclusion, see page 537. 
f Budleigh Salterton is about twenty-five miles eastward from Brixham. Mr. Pengelly informs me, 
however, that quartzite pebbles are occasionally met with on the Devon beaches. A broken quartzite pebble 
has also been found in Kent’s Cavern (see Brit. Assoc. Report, 1870, p. 22). 
