Cornish Characters and Strange Events — John Shaqi
Cornish Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Cornish Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Cornwall (England : County) -- Biography; Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
It was found that the floor of the cave exhibited the following
succession: (1) Blocks of limestone sometimes large, clearly fallen
from the roof. (2) A layer of black mould ranging from a few inches to
upwards of a foot in depth. (3) Beneath this came a floor of granular
stalagmite, about a foot in thickness, formed by the drip of water
from the roof. (4) A red loam containing a number of limestone
fragments. (5) A breccia of angular fragments of limestone and pebbles
and sandstone embedded in a reddish sandy calcareous paste.
On June 19th, 1880, the exploration of Kent's Hole was brought to an
end. It was the most complete and systematic investigation of a cavern
that had ever been undertaken, and on a much greater scale than that
at Brixham. A task of this kind is peculiarly exacting. It cannot be
entrusted to workmen; it cannot be left to a committee whose members
pay but intermittent visits: it demands the constant oversight of one
man; and this superintendence was given to Pengelly. The total amount
spent on this exploration was £2000. Pengelly states in one of his
papers that in the fifteen and a quarter years during which the
excavation was in progress he visited Kent's Hole almost daily, and
spent over the work, on an average, five hours a day.
"Above the stalagmite, and principally in the black mould, have been
found a number of relics belonging to different periods, such as
socketed celts, and a socketed knife of bronze, and some small fragments
of roughly smelted copper, about four hundred flint flakes, cores, and
chips, a polishing stone, a ring (made of Kimmeridge clay), numerous
spindle whorls, bone instruments terminating in comb-like ends, pottery,
marine shells, numerous mammalian bones of existing species, and some
human bones, on which it has been thought there are traces indicative of
cannibalism. Some of the pottery is distinctly Roman in character; but
many of the objects belong, no doubt, to pre-Roman times."
What was found beneath the stalagmite belonged to a long anterior
period, where it had lain sealed up for, at the very least, two thousand
years. In this deposit of the cave earth were found a large number of
chips, flakes, and implements of flint and chert, stones that had served
as pounders, and some pins, needles, and harpoons of bone.
Some mammoth bones were found in Kent's Cavern, and those of the cave
lion, the sabre-toothed tiger, the glutton, cave bear, woolly
rhinoceros, horse, reindeer, and beaver.
Mr. W. Pengelly died on March 17th, 1894.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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