The remains obtained in 1862–3 from three to four thousand in number, afford a vivid picture of the animal life of the time in Somerset. They belong to the following animals, the numbers representing the jaws and teeth only, and the implements:—
| Man | 35 |
| Cave-Hyæna | 467 |
| Cave-Lion | 15 |
| Cave-Bear | 27 |
| Grizzly Bear | 11 |
| Brown Bear | 11 |
| Wolf | 7 |
| Fox | 8 |
| Mammoth | 30 |
| Woolly Rhinoceros | 233 |
| Rhinoceros hemitœchus | 2 |
| Horse | 401 |
| The Great Urus | 16 |
| Bison | 30 |
| The Irish Elk | 35 |
| Reindeer | 30 |
| Red Deer | 2 |
| Lemming | 1 |
The remains of these animals were so intermingled that they must have been living together at the same time. They lie large with small, the more with the less dense, and are not in the least degree sorted by water. There is no evidence of the hyæna succeeding to the cave-bear, or the reindeer to the urus, or that the bears came here to die, as in some of the German caves, or that the herbivores fell, or were swept into open fissures, and left their remains, as in the caves of Hutton and Plymouth. On the contrary, the numerous jaws and teeth of hyæna, and the marks of those teeth upon nearly every one of the specimens, show that they alone introduced the remains that were found in such abundance. And they preyed not merely upon horses, uri, and other herbivores, but upon one another ([Figs. 92], [93]), and they even overcame the cave-bear and lion in their full prime. Some of the bones of the larger animals, and in particular a leg-bone of a gigantic urus, have been broken short across and not bitten through—a circumstance which points towards one of the causes of the vast accumulation of bones in so small a cave. It is well known that wolves and hyænas at the present day are in the habit of hunting in packs, and of forcing their prey over precipices. The Wookey ravine is admirably situated for this mode of hunting, and would not fail to destroy any animal forced into it from the hill-side. It is therefore very probable that the hyænas sometimes caught their prey in this manner. They would not have dared to attack the bears and lions unless these had been disabled.
Fig. 91.—Longitudinal Section through D of [Fig. 83].
Dotted area = bone-bed.
But if all the remains of the animals were introduced by the hyænas, they certainly in some cases do not occupy the exact position in which they were left by those animals. One of the bone layers ([Fig. 91]) for instance, actually touched the roof. This, indeed, has been used as an argument in favour of their having been introduced by water, from some unknown repository. But if this hypothesis be admitted, we are landed in the following dilemma: either the introducing current of water must have passed down the vertical passages, or upwards through the horizontal mouth of the cave. In the former case the three bone layers would not have been found in the narrow passages, but would have been swept out into the wide chamber, where the force of the hypothetical current must have abated. In the latter case the great bulk of the remains would have been found in the chamber, and not in the smaller passages. Moreover, the absence of marks of transport by water, and especially of that sorting action which water as a conveying agent always manifests, renders the view of their being so introduced untenable. On the other hand, the horizontality of the layers of bone, and the presence of sand and of red earth, imply that water was an agent in re-arranging the bones and in introducing some of the contents of the cave. The only solution of the difficulty that I can hazard is the occurrence of floods from time to time, during the occupation of the hyænas, similar to those which now take place in the caverns of the neighbourhood. A few years ago, the outlet of the Axe in the great cave was partially blocked up, and the water rose to a height of upwards of sixteen feet, leaving a horizontal deposit of red earth of the same nature as that in the hyæna-den. Now if we suppose that similar floods were caused by an obstruction in the ravine below the hyæna-den, it may have been flooded, just as the upper galleries of the great cave, and the water laden with sediment might have elevated the layers of matted bone, and some of the scattered remains on the surface, while the current was insufficient to disturb the stones, or to affect to any extent the deposits of former floods. The buoyancy of the organic remains is not required to be greater, on this hypothesis, than in that of their having been introduced by a current through the vertical passages. Some of the wet bones taken straight from the cave were sufficiently light to be carried down by the current of the Axe.
All these facts taken together enable us to form a clear idea of the condition of things at the time the hyæna-den was inhabited. The hyænas were the normal occupants of the cave, and thither they brought their prey. We can realize those animals pursuing elephants and rhinoceroses along the slopes of the Mendip, till they scared them into the precipitous ravine, or watching until the strength of a disabled bear or lion ebbed away sufficiently to allow of its being overcome by their cowardly strength. Man appeared from time to time on the scene, a miserable savage armed with bow and spear, unacquainted with metals, but defended from the cold by coats of skin.[198] Sometimes he took possession of the den and drove out the hyænas; for it is impossible for both to have lived in the same cave at the same time. He kindled his fires at the entrance, to cook his food, and to keep away the wild animals; then he went away, and the hyænas came to their old abode. While all this was taking place there were floods from time to time until eventually the cave was completely blocked up with their deposits.
Fig. 92.—Gnawed jaw of Hyæna, from Hyæna-den at Wookey (1/2).
Dotted outline = portion eaten.
The winter cold at the time must have been very severe to admit of the presence of the reindeer and lemming.