218 , Explorations in the Bone Cave of Ballynamintra. 
5. Cessation of calcareous deposits. Continued accumulation of earth, and occupa- 
tion by man, now using carved bone implements and polished celts. Gradual 
disappearance of the Irish elk, and establishment of domesticated races of 
animals. | 
6. Abandonment by man of the cave, which becomes the resort of foxes and rabbits, 
as at the present time. 
The pauses and interruptions in the filling-up of the cave are marked by the 
seams of stalagmite in the gravel, the floor of crystalline stalagmite, the charcoal 
seam and the calcareous seams in the grey earth, and the layers of small stones in 
the brown earth. These may all have formed successive floors terminating with the 
surface horizon of the brown earth. 
First Period.—Formation of the cavity and deposition of the gravel. 
In the second part of this report it has been suggested that the formation of the 
Ballynamintra cave has been due partly to subterraneous drainage, and partly perhaps 
to the wind waves of a sea or estuary. The district must at the time of the cave’s 
formation have been in a very different condition from its present one, Had a 
subterraneous stream flowed through the cave the land must have been at a higher 
level than the cave, and the tract of low flat ground now in front of it, and 12 feet 
er more below the floor of the cave, must have since been reduced to its present 
level. For waves in connexion with the sea to have gained access to the cavity 
the whole country must have stood at about 70 feet lower than now. In favour of 
wave-action is the worn appearance of the rocks along the scarp, which in some 
places are undercut, and in others are scooped out into recesses and cavities, the 
most remarkable of which is the cave we are treating of. Its roof and sides, so 
strikingly arched and smoothed, for more than 20 feet from its mouth, and its 
roof dipping from the entrance inwards, are suggestive that waves charged with 
detritus may have hollowed it out. 
On the other hand, this may have been due to a tranquil stream flowing through 
it for a lengthened period, and the fine gravel so uniform in size, and more or less 
rounded, was doubtless deposited by a stream. 
Indeed if this were so we must abandon the idea of sea-waves having had 
anything to do with the cave, for the excavation of the valley in front of it in 
the formation of an estuary would have left the cave as now in an elevated cliff 
escarpment. This would have precluded its ever after serving as a subterraneous 
channel for the drainage of the district. 
The remarkable hollowing of its left side, ending below at a certain level, 
shows that the stream may have continued to wear away that side long after the 
bottom had been filled with gravel. 
