The discovery of the remains of man in the high-level river-gravels deposited near the close of the Glacial period led to a revision of the evidence which had from time to time been reported connecting the remains of man with those of various extinct animals in cave deposits both in England and upon the Continent.
The British Isles.
As early as 1826, Rev. J. MacEnery, a Roman Catholic priest residing near Torquay, in Devonshire, England, had made some most remarkable discoveries in a cavern at Kent’s Hole, near his home; but, owing to his early death, and to the incredulity of that generation of scientific men, his story was neither credited nor published till 1859. About this time, a new cave having been discovered not far away, at Brixham, the best qualified members of the Royal Society (Lyell, Phillips, Lubbock, Evans, Vivian, Pengelly, Busk, Dawkins, and Sanford) were deputed to see that it was carefully explored. Mr. Pengelly, who had had twenty years’ experience in similar explorations, directed and superintended the work. Every portion of the contents was examined with minutest care. Kent’s Hole is “180 to 190 feet above the level of mean tide, and about 70 feet above the bottom of the valley immediately adjacent.”[CZ] In one chamber the excavation was about sixty feet square. The contents were arranged in the following order:
[CZ] Dawkins’s Cave-Hunting, p. 325.
Fig. 78.—Mouth of Kent’s Hole.
1. A surface of dark earth a few inches thick, containing Roman pottery, iron and bronze spear-heads, together with polished stone weapons. There were, too, in this stratum bones of cows, goats, and horses, mingled with large quantities of charcoal.
2. Below this was a stalagmite floor from one to three feet thick, formed by the dripping of lime-water from the roof.