The Story of the Earth and ManDawson, John William, Sir
Science
The Story of the Earth and Man
Dawson, John William, Sir
Human beings -- Origin; Paleontology
The somewhat extensive and ramifying cavern of Kent's Hole is an
irregular excavation, evidently due partly to fissures in limestone
rock, and partly to the erosive action of water enlarging such
fissures into chambers and galleries. At what time it was originally
cut we do not know, but it must have existed as a cavern at the close
of the Pliocene or beginning of the Post-pliocene period, since which
time it has been receiving a series of deposits which have quite
filled up some of its smaller branches.
First and lowest, according to Mr. Pengelly, is a "breccia" or mass of
broken and rounded stones, with hardened red clay filling the
interstices. Most of the stones are of the rock which forms the roof
and walls of the cave, but many, especially the rounded ones, are from
more distant parts of the surrounding country. In this mass, the depth
of which is unknown, are numerous bones, all of one kind of animal,
the cave bear, a creature which seems to have lived in Western Europe
from the close of the Pliocene down to the modern period. It must have
been one of the earliest and most permanent tenants of Kent's Hole at
a time when its lower chambers were still filled with water. Next
above the breccia is a floor of "stalagmite" or stony carbonate of
lime, deposited from the drippings of the roof, and in some places
three feet thick. This also contains bones of the cave bear, deposited
when there was less access of water to the cavern. Mr. Pengelly infers
the existence of man at this time from a single flint flake and a
single flint chip found in these beds; but mere flakes and chips of
flint are too often natural to warrant such a conclusion. After the
old stalagmite floor above mentioned was formed, the cave again
received deposits of muddy water and stones; but now a change occurs
in the remains embedded. This stony clay, or "cave earth" has yielded
an immense quantity of teeth and bones, including those of the
elephant, rhinoceros, horse, hyena, cave bear, reindeer, and Irish
elk. With these were found weapons of chipped flint, and harpoons,
needles, and bodkins of bone, precisely similar to those of the North
American Indians and other rude races. The "cave earth" is four feet
or more in thickness, It is not stratified, and contains many fallen
fragments of rock, rounded stones, and broken pieces of stalagmite. It
also has patches of the excrement of hyenas, which the explorers
suppose to indicate the temporary residence of these animals; and in
one spot, near the top, is a limited layer of burnt wood, with remains
which indicate the cooking and eating of repasts of animal food by
man. It is clear that when this bed was formed the cavern was liable
to be inundated with muddy water, carrying stones and other heavy
objects, and breaking up in places the old stalagmite floor. One of
the most puzzling features, especially to those who take an
exclusively uniformitarian view, is, that the entrance of water-borne
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