Fig. 27. Bone-bead (natural size.)
The question naturally arises, who were the ancient inhabitants of the cave whose rude implements occur in this lower stratum? From the few remains which we discovered, they were hunters and fishermen, and the possessors of domestic oxen, and possibly horses, and in a much lower state of civilization than the Brit-Welsh inhabitants who succeeded them in the cave after a long interval. There is no proof that they used a coinage, or that they were acquainted with metal. The conclusion that they were neolithic is based on the following evidence:—In 1871 the Exploration Committee examined a small cave about 200 yards off, in King’s Scar, and obtained the broken bones of the stag, Celtic short-horn (Bos longifrons), goat, and horse, a whetstone, and a rudely chipped scraper, to which, subsequently, Mr. John Birkbeck, jun., made the important addition of part of a human thigh-bone. This set of remains, the human thigh-bone excepted, agrees with those in the lower stratum in the Victoria Cave, not merely in the absence of metal, but also in affording signs of a comparatively rude civilization; and we might reasonably expect that the two caves so close to each other, would have been occupied by the same people at approximately the same time. If this be allowed, the thigh-bone may be assigned to one of these earlier inhabitants, the place of habitation being, as is frequently the case, subsequently used for purposes of burial. The thigh-bone itself is characterized by the great development of the muscular ridge known to anatomists as the linea aspera, implying the peculiar flatness of shin which is termed by Professor Busk platycnemism. This peculiar form has been met with in the neolithic tumuli of Yorkshire, explored by the Rev. Canon Greenwell, as well as in the human remains which I have discovered in the neolithic caves and chambered tombs of Denbighshire; and since it has not been observed in any human skeletons in this country which are not of that age, it may be fairly taken to prove that a neolithic people formerly lived in Ribblesdale. And further, since the traces of rude culture met with in these two caves are the same as those which characterize neolithic burial and dwelling places throughout Europe, they may be assigned to that remote age. Similar human remains were obtained by Mr. Farrer from the Dowker-bottom Cave, and imply that that cave also was used as a neolithic burial-place.
The identification of this race with the Basque or Iberian stock, from which are descended the small, dark peoples of Derbyshire, Wales, and certain parts of Ireland, must be referred to the chapters on the Neolithic Caves.
Fig. 28.—Stone Adze: a, side view; b, edge (natural size).
The reputed discovery of an adze ([Fig. 28]), of a variety of greenstone which Mr. Wyndham identifies with melaphyr, many years ago in the Victoria Cave, may offer additional evidence as to its having been occupied by a neolithic tribe. It was presented to the Museum of the Philosophical Society at Leeds by Mr. Jackson, and figured by Mr. Denny among the remains from the Caves of Craven, and presents characters that have not, to my knowledge, been met with in any other neolithic implement found in Great Britain: one end being roughly chipped for insertion into a socket, while the other is carefully ground into a chisel edge. In these respects, as Mr. O’Callaghan and Mr. Denny have observed, it bears a striking resemblance to the stone adzes used by the South Sea Islanders, and especially in Tahiti;—a resemblance so strong that, unless it had been traced from the hands of the discoverer into the Museum at Leeds, it would be considered by many archæologists as an implement actually obtained from the South Seas. It may have been derived from the lower stratum, which furnished the equally peculiar harpoon, [Fig. 26].
The Approximate Date of the Neolithic Occupation.
From the position in which these remains occurred, it is obvious that a neolithic tribe occupied the cave before the accumulation of the angular fragments, six feet in thickness ([Fig. 20], No. 3; [Fig. 21], No. 3), just as the date of the Brit-Welsh occupation is fixed as being after this, and before the accumulation of the two feet of débris above (No. 5). And in this we have a means of roughly estimating the interval of time between them. It is clear that the accumulation of two feet of angular fragments, torn away by the action of the weather from the cliff, has been formed in about 1,200 years, i.e. between the Brit-Welsh occupation and the present time. If it be admitted that equal quantities of the cliff have been weathered away in equal times, it will follow that the thickness of six feet between the Brit-Welsh stratum and that under examination was formed during a time thrice as long, or 3,600 years; and that consequently the date of the earlier occupation of the cave by man is fixed as being about 4,800, or 5,000 years ago. It is perfectly true, that in ancient times the frosts may have been more intense than they are now, and therefore that the rate of weathering may have been faster. To the objection that possibly a large mass of cliff may have tumbled down at one time, and subsequently been disintegrated, it may be answered, that at the point at the entrance where the section was taken there was no evidence of any such fall; the angular blocks, both above and below the Brit-Welsh stratum, being as nearly as possible of the same size, and not lying with their faces parallel to each other, as would have been the case had they been disintegrated fallen blocks. Nevertheless this attempt to fix a date cannot lay claim to scientific precision, and in that respect is neither better, nor worse, than any other similar attempt founded on the rate at which a valley is being excavated, or alluvium being deposited, or on the retrocession of a waterfall, such, for example, as Niagara. It is merely valuable as enabling us to form some sort of idea of the high antiquity of the neolithic men who left these remains behind in the cave.
As the trench (see [Figs. 20], [21]) begun on the outside passed into the entrance of the cave, the accumulation of stones above the neolithic stratum disappeared, and the latter became intermingled with the Brit-Welsh layer above, so that it would have been impossible to distinguish the one from the other had not the talus marked the interval in the plateau outside. The talus also above the Brit-Welsh stratum ceased at the entrance, although here and there large blocks of stone, fallen from time to time from the roof, rested on its upper surface.