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. [Illustration: FIG. 28.--Stone Adze: _a_, side view; _b_, edge (natural size).]