Derbyshire Bone Caves 8: Thor's Fissure Cave

Thor’s Fissure Cave lies below and right of Thor’s Cave west window in an almost inaccessible position. It was discovered by G. H. Wilson in 1927, and excavated by him between 1929 and 1935 with the help of the ‘Brotherhood of the pick and shovel’.

Thor’s Fissure Cave from within. Photograph: the author.

Thor’s Fissure cave seen to the right of Thor’s Cave (arrowed in green). Photographed by the author.

Wilson (1937) describes his discovery of the cave thus: “In the summer of 1927 two of us spent a day re-exploring the slopes and cliffs south of Thor’s with a cragsmen’s equipment and enjoyed some really interesting minor problems in rock work. Notes made at the time mention the cave now excavated as a site of promise, and following up this hint my son G. E. Wilson, joined me in test digging in the spring of 1927 which suggested further work.”

He goes on to describe the cave thus: “Along the whole length of 60 feet or so, from the mouth to the very furthest narrow limit the floor was strewn with large and small boulders.. It was very evident that the excavation of such a cave would be no light task..”

On excavation and recording of finds Wilson records: “During Easter week of 1929, while some preliminary work went forward, Lieutenant Todd R.N. and G. E. Wilson, B.Sc., prepared an exact chart of the passage to be excavated marking this out in sections of 5 feet which were sub-divided into A. B. and C. The width of the fissure at floor level varies from 2 ½ to 5 ½ feet.

The entrance to Thor’s Fissure Cave, almost hidden by a deluge of spring foliage. Photograph, the author.

The importance of recording the exact position in which an object is found is evident, and this was secured for all items of note by giving the depth at which a piece was found, with the figures and letter indicating the section.”

Wilson describes the initial and subsequent excavations, in some detail. For example: “In some parts of the floor the rocky debris was soon removed as it simple lay loose on the surface. This was the case in section 6 and 7 where we decided to commence work. Here the stratification was regular, and apart from a few easily removed blocks of smaller size, and a layer of particularly difficult clay, the work followed the normal course. A stalagmite crust varying from 2 to 5 inches in thickness appeared across the floor of section 6 at a depth of 40 inches. This hard cement demanded an electric drill but ultimately yielded to a chisel and 20 lb. hammer. From these two sections representing 10 feet in length of the passage, at 25 to 35 feet from the cave mouth, came the more significant of our finds.”

Beginning to make my way inwards. 

Wilson’s sections 6 and 7 – the most deeply excavated.

On the recording of the finds Wilson seems to have been quite meticulous for his time, compared to some excavators. He explains the procedure during the initial digging at Whit week 1929 quite clearly: “The material was sorted further back in the cave as we did not wish to attract attention at this stage by a dump outside. Two men worked in the trench filling buckets which were passed along to the sorters. Any item of interest was reported by the diggers or sorters and a note as to position in which it was found. By the end of these three days we had assembled a collection of very interesting items including human jaws, flints, celts and bone implements. The animal remains included jaws, limbs, and vertebrae of bear; antler and other parts of giant deer; wild dog and wolf, ox, polecat and much besides.”

The work was carried out by an invited group christened the ‘Brotherhood of the Pick and Shovel’. Whilst some trustworthy, local men were included, many were learned men and well-known names of the time. These included J. L. Waterhouse; Dr R. Williamson; Geoff and Frank Hall; G. E. Wilson (his son); H. J. Irwin; W. M. Rogers; R Brocklebank; J. Cringhall; Harry Wright; L. Ramsbottom; A. J. Brain; Rev. D. G. Matthews; J. R. Duncan and a young, Don Bramwell.

On the termination of the excavation Wilson says: “Work in the Fissure cave carried on at intervals through several years, ceased for the present at Whit week 1933, but sections 5 to 7 will be taken lower when opportunity offers. Here we have struck into a fine laminated clay. Further examination during the summer of 1934 will decide the matter.”

Back of the cave showing steep bank of remaining deposits.

Bramwell’s summary (1950) provides clarity:

“Thor’s Fissure Cave, as its name implies, proved a narrow and difficult cave to excavate the sections being complicated by a succession of huge slabs and boulders which were sometimes wedged across the cave. The cave would not appear to be a desirable living site, and yet it yielded a series of occupation levels from late Palaeolithic to Romano-British times. The excavation was carried out by the Peakland Archaeological Society during 1933 and 1934, under the direction of Rev. G. Wilson, who gives a typical section as follows:  the lowest deposit was at least 4 feet of barren laminated clay, this was covered by a limey deposit of loose breccia containing the bones of late Pleistocene animals viz. a giant form of red deer, bear, reindeer and horse. Also in this stratum was a group of four patinated flint blades which are described as being of developed Aurignacian affinity. Two of the blades are of the shouldered and gravette type points respectively and can be matched by specimens from the middle zone of Mother Grundy’s Parlour at Cresswell.”

Flint tools from the lowest level of occupation. These are those that Bramwell assigns as Aurignacian and shouldered and gravette types. Photo credit: Wonders of the Peak (2021a). The same website estimates them to be between 12,000 and 15,000 years old. However, the reindeer antler retrieved from the same strata, in 1950 has been radiocarbon dated to ca. 20,000 years old.

Bramwell goes on: “A bed of hard stalagmite then intervenes across the cave floor: it was in turn covered by stiff clay containing stream wash. This in turn gave way to red cave earth, laminated with hearths of Bronze Age date. ln this horizon occurred  beaker pottery, some amber beads, worked flints, and a small polished celt with flat sides.

This may be Neolithic but could, also be a survival of Neolithic culture into Bronze Age times. Also in this. horizon occurred those curious pieces of dolphin bone; sternum, scapula and r vertebra, thought to have been connected, with certain magical practices. Such bones are not unknown, from inland caves, but are rare. The next strata consisted of variations of the usual top-soil and contained an assemblage of early Iron Age and Romano-British artifacts, mainly in the form of pottery. There was, however a spindle whorl of bone, a bone awl and a bone toggle, all of which have been recorded from similar cave dwellings in other parts of the Peak District. Some hones or whetstones and some thin bronze sheeting also belong to the Iron Age and Romano-British deposits, Besides dolphin bones there were some interesting remains representative of.post-Pleistocene fauna, including wolf, polecat, dog, wildcat, bear, red deer, ox, pig, sheep and goat.”

Dolphin bones from Thor’s Fissure Cave. Top: scapula and sternum. Bottom: vertebra. Why these bones were transported so far from the coast is a mystery, but it seems certain that the bones had some ritual significance for the people of the late Neolithic or Bronze Age. All from Wonders of the Peak (2021b).

Next Bramwell summarises the human bones found and the manner of their burial: “The human remains were all recovered from rough, shallow inhumations which showed little regard for the dead, several skeletons being placed in the same hole or group. One group had a rough protection of limestone slabs. The expert examination of the bones at the Institute of Anatomy, Univ. Coll. of London revealed that these cave dwellers did not exceed 5ft, 6in. in height or 30 years in age. They had sound but heavily worn teeth and suffered in the case of one individual from a series of setbacks (shown in their limb bone development) due to disease or lack of nourishment.”

Radiogram from one of the deceased. The tibia shows lines due to arrested growth. This woeful individual seems to have experienced periodic bouts of starvation. Photo credit: Wilson (1937).

Lastly Bramwell looks at the cave’s stratigraphy and palaeoclimate: “With regard to the interpretation of the strata which composed the floor of' the cave, we find no easy parallel in either Thor’s or Old Hannah’s. These latter caves had red clay above and sandy material underneath, whereas in this cave we have several types of cave earth covering a deep bed of clay. The useful series of animal bones recovered by the excavators do, however, give a clear picture of the climatic succession. The lowest laminated clay vas undoubtedly laid down in still pools witch, represents a long wet period in the cave’s history. Then followed a drier period indicated by the breccia and the Tundra and Steppe forms such as giant red deer, horse, reindeer and bears. Above was the bed of stalagmite which could indicate damp conditions again with abundant drip but might equally be due to some slight alteration in the drainage of the cave. We then have a suggestion of stream conditions, followed by a typical Bronze Age assemblage with wolf, red deer, and bear, this being replaced by the characteristic pastoral fauna of the Iron Ago with goat, sheep and ox. The dog, occurring in the Bronze Age horizon bears out similar discoveries in other local Bronze Age deposits. The later history of the cave thus seems to indicate a prolonged drier condition making possible an almost uninterrupted occupation till the beginning of the Dark Ages.”

Giant deer antler mentioned in the text. Is this in fact part of a Megaloceros giganteus antler? Photo credit: Wonders of the Peak (2021c)

The age of the deposits containing the reindeer was confirmed by Burleigh et. al. (1983), they give a date and some notes "20,100 ± 1900 BM-1807 on the calcaneum of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) from Buxton Museum collection, labelled as from Thor's Fissure, Manifold Valley, Staffordshire, England (53° 5' N, 1° 55' W, Natl Grid Ref SK 090540). Collected in 1950 by D Bramwell, Peakland Archaeological Society and submitted in 1980 by him, and R Jacobi, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Lancaster. Jacobi commented “result suggests presence of reindeer in south Peak District at time of max spread of Devensian ice-sheet.”

The date of collection fits with the time Bramwell was preparing his paper, Cave Dwellers and Dens of Late Pleistocene Animals in the Manifold Valley. Bramwell, presumably must have visited Thor’s Fissure Cave as well as the other caves examined in that paper. He collected the reindeer antler above submitted to the British Museum for radiocarbon dating at that time.

This brings us to a further inconsistency in the history of collections from the cave. The Heritage Gateway website (2012) gives a list of fauna excavated from the cave, explicitly referencing Wilson (1937) as their source. Their list is as follows: “human, dolphin, bear, reindeer, dog, wolf, small ox, ox, sheep, goats, polecat, brown bear, birds, water vole, bank vole, field vole, field mouse, fox, pig, frog, hare, and cat.”

Whereas Wilson (1937) clearly states: “At least 15 species were collected..” and goes on to give an account: Bear either brown bear or cave bear; red deer, reindeer, ox, some of small size possibly from Bos longifrons; goat; sheep; pig; fox; wolf or dog; horse possibly the ancient species Equus caballus; polecat and dolphin. 

He does not mention birds or rodents nor hare or cat. There are two possibilities here, either a later re-examination of his collection found these species, or they were excavated by Bramwell in 1950. The first seems unlikely as Wilson 1937 states of his bone collection “As no other record of this cave will be published we hope to include sufficient exact detail to make it of some scientific value..”

Therefore I can only conclude that Bramwell excavated the additional species in 1950.

Of Wilson’s (1937) comment that “Work in the Fissure cave carried on at intervals through several years, ceased for the present at Whit week 1933, but sections 5 to 7 will be taken lower when opportunity offers. Here we have struck into a fine laminated clay. Further examination during the summer of 1934 will decide the matter.”, I can find no record. We know he excavated in 1934 and 1935, but what the results were of the further excavation in the fine laminated clay he left no record. It is possible that the additional species were unearthed then. We will never know for certain.

A last thought: it is almost certain that neither Wilson nor Bramwell excavated the cave to bedrock throughout its length. My own visit in 2020 confirmed this, there being abundant deep, deposits remaining. It is thus a tantalizing prospect to imagine what lies beneath the rest of the finely laminated clay, as it was in just such a situation in the adjacent Thor’s Cave that a horn possibly 25,000 years old, and worked by human hands was found (see here).

A word of warning. The approach is extremely steep. Only sure-footed and experienced ‘cragsmen’ as Wilson would put it, should attempt the path down from Seven Ways Cave. Personally, I chose to zig-zag down the steep slopes about 15m left of the path when looking down. This has the double advantage of lush vegetation to hang onto and exquisite, sights of the rare plants Nottingham Catchfly and Jacob’s Ladder.

Flowers of the Manifold. Top: Jacob’s Ladder. Bottom: Nottingham Catchfly seen on the descent to Thor’s Fissure Cave. Both photos, the author. 

References:

Bramwell D. (1950). Cave Dwellers and Dens of Late Pleistocene Animals in the Manifold Valley, Staffordshire. Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain, 1950, Vol 1, Issue 4, p. 43-52

Burleigh, R., Ambers, J. & Matthews, K. (1983) British Museum natural radiocarbon measurements XVI. Radiocarbon 25 (1): 39-58. 

Wilson, G. H. (1937) Cave Hunting Holidays in Peakland, Chesterfield.

Wonders of the Peak (2021a) at: https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objectrecord/?id=10151 accessed 07.06.2021

Wonders of the Peak (2021b) at: https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objects/1-81/ accessed 07.06.2021

Wonders of the Peak (2021c) at: https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objectrecord/?id=10192 accessed 07.06.2021

Derbyshire Bone Caves 7: Old Hannah's Hole

 

Old Hannah’s Hole is a large fissure cave with a narrow, high entrance, and is also known as Redhurst Cave. It sits at the foot of a ridge of limestone projecting into the Manifold Valley from Wetton Hill. The entrance is imposing, if not on the scale of the nearby Thor’s Cave. It is narrow at about 1.3m wide, but lofty, at about 8m. The cave penetrates the limestone for about 8m before narrowing considerably. A crabwise shuffle and short crawl for some 5m brings one to a circular chamber.

Old Hannah’s Hole photographed by the author, June 3^rd 2021.

Whilst the cave is only ca. 150m from the road it proved hard to find. This was principally because there are no less than 6 grid references/gps coordinates given for it on the internet. All are wrong! The correct grid reference is SK 09987 55694 as shown on the map below:

The initial excavation was carried by Wardle (1899). His account is quite interesting, but takes close reading to determine the stratigraphic position of the finds and therefore correct ages. I reproduce it in full here as it appears nowhere on the internet: 

“THE DIGGINGS IN OLD HANNAH’S CAVE.

I will now briefly describe the Redhurst Cave or Old Hannah’s Cave. The first part of the cave is about eight yards in length, and one and a-half yards wide. Then there  occurs a very narrow opening, and after crawling about two yards, the cave opens out a little, giving just room enough to walk sideways for about four yards; it then terminates in an almost round space, perhaps 15 feet high, with room for three or four people to stand upright in it. This was before the excavation began.

The cave appears to be a large crack or fissure in the rock, with possibly a subsidence on one side. A section from the top of the floor of the cave gives the following deposits:—

1. Two inches of a rubbly floor.

2. Top layer, at entrance, of blackish earthy soil.

3. Stiff red soil, at entrance, containing a few large bones.

4. 12 to 18 inches of red clay, with small limestone fragments.

5. Limy concrete or Stalagmitic accretions, but commencing well inside the cave and thickening inwards from one to seven or eight feet.

6. Red clay..

7. Whitish sandy loam, at entrance, and clay.

8. Red sand, probably derived from glacial beds.

9. Sand and clay.

10. Rough red sand, with small limestone fragments two feet thick.

11. Red sand, two feet thick.

The thickness of the whole series may be estimated at about from 10 to 12 feet.

A few large bones were found in stiff red soil at the entrance, and about four yards up the cave, before the limy concrete commenced, we found broken portions of a funeral urn. Some breakage occurred in getting the urn out, but it appeared to have been broken before. This was found at a depth of 18 inches in a small angular limestone gravel. No bones were found in this gravel, which is of irregular thickness, varying from one foot to between two and three feet, thinning out as one proceeded up the cave.

Then occurred a mass of white limy concrete, in which were found several more bones at a distance of four to seven yards from the entrance of the cave, and a t a depth of 12 to 18 inches. Three human teeth and about 40 small bones were found at the far end of the cave, amongst wet dirt about a foot deep. The limy bed appeared to be a deposit of lime almost in the form of concrete, in which were embedded many bones. This was the upper bed inside the cave, just below some rubbly stone and a little soil as a surface. This bed of limy concrete, or stalagmitic matter, with bones, was at first only 12 inches thick, but further in the cave the thickness gradually increased to seven or eight feet, but the bones were all nearer the surface of the concrete, not being deeper anywhere than about 18 inches.

In six inches of soil in the lime occurred a skull, and also part of a lower jaw, but of another individual, with the teeth in an excellent state of preservation. This skull and the teeth were found eight yards up the cave, where the lime is thickest, close to the side and in the concrete, but loose and not cemented in the concrete like many of the bones which were very firmly bedded and have the appearance of having been placed in lime and then water added to them, as you will see by the specimens on the table.

At a depth of about a foot in the part which had to be crawled along and also in the open space in the interior, a number of small bones were found, with charcoal, some of them being charred. There appeared to have been a fire, with sticks partly burnt. The prevalence of the charcoal throughout the cave is no doubt due to persons inhabiting the cave, perhaps, before the burials took place. There was also charcoal amongst the concrete.

There was brick clay at the entrance, just inside. The clay was irregularly bedded and alternated with sand. None of the bones are of extinct forms, and the smaller ones are much more modern: some may, however, be older than the burial. The bones do not point to the Pleistocene period, or the time of extinct mammals, yet they are very interesting as proving the cave to have been a place of burial.

Now with reference to the cave deposits, you will have observed that I referred to that which contained by far the largest portion of the bones as lime, limy-deposit, and concrete.

There is one interesting question for investigation on this, on which I should like to have the opinion of the members of the Club —“ Is the deposit one of lime, or is it stalagmitic?” There is abundant evidence of stalactitic as well as of stalagmitic deposition in this case. The water percolating through the limestone is charged with carbonate of lime, and this becomes deposited in favourable places, sometimes to a great thickness. The sides of the cave are in some places covered with it high above where the bones were found, as the large specimens on the table will show, some of them in vertical stratification, showing successive layers corresponding with the varying quantities of carbonate of lime dissolved by percolating and highly-charged water in its passage down the cave sides and re-deposited as the water evaporated. But it is difficult to admit that the lime was not used in sepulture, especially as many fragments of charcoal are found imbedded in the floor masses. Mr. Newton, to whom

I am about to refer, however, thinks that these are of stalagmitic origin and that there is no reason for thinking that lime has been put with the bones; but I say if so, how were the people buried?

There is no trace of soil or sand where they were found, except a very little partially round one of the skulls, only a limy bed of concrete. I am inclined to think both causes operated, but it is an interesting question on which I will not speak dogmatically.

I have tested both the stalactitic and stalagmitic matter from the cave sides and floor and the concrete containing the bones, and find they are perfectly neutral, at any rate not alkaline, which rather points to Mr. Newton’s theory being correct, because if so much lime had been brought in to cover the bones, some of it would I think be alkaline.

I sent all the bones and deposits now exhibited to Mr. Newton, of the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, London, the best authority on recent and extinct bones. He has sent the following report:—

“ The human skull from the cemented concrete is that of an old man, probably Celtic, of Romano-British age or possibly somewhat older, the front teeth and bicuspids having been lost and the alveoli obliterated, while the molar teeth are nearly worn away. This skull is well developed, evidently has a full capacity, the forehead and occiput are bold, the low ridges are somewhat prominent, and the nasal bones have been broken during life; it comes within the dolichocephalic group, its cephalic index being 72.

“ A lower jaw and piece of skull of another individual has the teeth beautifully preserved. The last molar, or wisdom tooth, has been fully developed as shown by the alveolus which is now empty, and the enamel of the two molars, which are present, is

worn through in places. It is evident therefore that these remains belonged to a person well advanced in years.”

Numerous other human bones from the cemented layer indicate at least four adults and one child. All the adult bones are large, and some especially so, considerably larger than those of an average man of the present day, the vertebrae and hip-bones

being those of an individual above the average height. The femora have large heads, strongly developed muscular attachments, very prominent line aspera, and the condyles oblique.

Tibiae are somewhat flattened, or platyenemic. With these human bones were some belonging to an ox, sheep, and fox. The bones from the inner part of the cave beyond the narrow passage, were mixed with charcoal, and are chiefly of sheep of several sizes, perhaps indicating different breeds. With the sheep bones were a few belonging to badger, fox, hare, rabbit, and one of a bird. There were also a few human bones evidently from the lower strata.

The urn was submitted to Mr. P. W. Rudler, the curator of Jermyn Street Museum, and President of the Anthropological Society, who states :— “ Its coarse make and mixture of quartz grains with the clay, indicate considerable antiquity ; but it has evidently been “ thrown ” on a wheel, which would point to a comparatively late origin. On the whole he is inclined to think it is the work of some ancient Briton, influenced to some extent by Roman ideas; that is, it would seem to be what is usually known as Romano-British. The skeletons would agree with this age, but they might be somewhat more ancient-”

Some dark coloured bones were found in stiff red soil below the limy concrete, about six yards up the cave, and some of them in the same mixture, but before the limy deposit commenced. They have lost their gelatine, and would, from this circumstance,

lead one to think they were those of extinct animals of the Pleistocene period, but Mr. Newton says, the absence of gelatine is not a sure proof of age, because bones, being in a wet place, would in time have the gelatine dissolved out. These bones are probably older than the bones of the limy concrete, and consist of one piece of a red deer’s bone, metatarsal; the foot bone of a horse, and two fragments undeterminable, broken longitudinally, it may be inferred, for extraction of the marrow.

THE DEPOSITS .

Mr. Clement Reid, of the Geological Survey, has kindly examined the specimens of cave earth, etc., some of them by washing through a sieve, but with only negative results. He says:-

No. 2.—Top layer a t entrance, blackish earthy soil full of roots, etc. No implements, flakes, or bones found in washing.

No. 4.—From below No. 1 (12 to 18 inches thick). Red clay, with small limestone fragments.

No. 6.— Next below No. 2, below the lime bed, further inside. Red clay.

No. 7.—Clay below No. 3 at entrance ; bedded whitish sandy loam, full of root fibres. Yielded one small fossil when washed.

No. 8.— Sand below No. 4 at entrance. Red sand (? Derived from glacial beds). The washed residue contains a few small fragments of shells, quite undeterminable, a reed of grass, fragment of leaf and of moss are evidently recent, not fossil.

A portion of jaw of shrew and part of a small limb bone have also a very modern look.

No. 9.—From below the sand (No. 5) is like the last (No. 8), but more clayey, contains no fossils.

No. 10.—Rough sand with small fragments of limestone.

No. 11.— Red sand two feet thick.

Mr. Clement Reid thinks it is in the earth below the deposit which contains the human bones that we should expect to find remains of extinct forms, and it may be, extinct mice and moles. 

For the purposes of comparison and analogy, it will now be interesting to say a few words about other pre-historic and visible records of this neighbourhood. No doubt you will remember that the late Mr. Bateman, of Youlgrave, and Mr. Carrington, of Wetton, were occupied for a good many years in examining the barrows and other burial places of North Staffordshire. Their results are recorded in Mr. Bateman’s book published in 1861, entitled “ Ten years’ diggings in Celtic and Saxon grave-hills.”

As far back as 1845 Mr. Carrington opened a small barrow in a field in his occupation at Wetton called Borough Hole. In this barrow he found a skeleton extended at full length, accompanied by a spear-head and knife of iron. He also found a small brass coin of the Emperor Gallienus (A.D. 253 to 268) with an antelope on the reverse; and a curious article made of two semi-circular bars of lead, perforated at both ends as if intended for a collar, meant to be tied together when round the neck. Later on he found a very beautiful bronze fibula heart-shaped.

In 1852 he examined this field to a greater extent, and found it was evidently the site of an ancient British village or settlement.

The name of Borough Hole remains to this day, and Mr. Carrington states that the term comes from the word burh, being a Saxon word for town or village. The sites of many dwellings were discovered, and the precise site of each house was indicated by pavement. Ashes, charcoal, broken pottery (Celtic and Romano-British), teeth, bones, and horns of ox, hare, deer, hog, cow (animals which had been used for food), and burnt stones were found, but there was no evidence of this station having been occupied prior to the Roman conquest, neither were there any traces of the Saxon periods further than that of the name of the fields. The people were pagans, and disposed of their dead by burning, either to introduce their shades, with becoming honours, into the presence of their deity, or to propitiate his wrath.

A Romano-British knife of iron, and prongs of a fork were found at a depth of about one foot from the surface. There were some broken querns, and a mortar hollowed out at the top for the reception of grain, also part of a vessel of green glass of Roman

manufacture. The skull of a stag was found, and a coin of Constantine with the words “Gloria Exercitvs” and two soldiers holding standards; also pieces of Roman tile, a drinking cup made from the leg-bone of a large animal. It seems clear from this, that there is sufficient evidence to assume that there was a joint Romano-British occupation, or, a t any rate, trading. These Wetton Borough Fields are distant from Redhurst Gorge not more than one and a-quarter miles.

Barrows were also opened at Throwley, Warslow, Ecton Hill, Longbow, and Three Lows near Wetton, and Elkstone, in which similar remains were discovered; in one, were found vessels of stone and bronze.

Thor’s Cave in its turn came in for examination. In it some bones of extinct animals were found, with other remains. I have here a lump of Breccia, which formed part of the floor of Thor’s Cave, in which may be observed a small Roman tessera.

From all this, it will appear, that this beautiful limestone country was a dwelling-place of our ancient forefathers from very early times. There does not seem to be any trace of these ancient people being employed in mining operations for lead, copper, or other metallic ores, but everything points to their leading a quite pastoral life.

LIST OF BONES, &C. FOUND IN REDHURST CAVE, JANUARY, 1899.

1.— Human skull of a very old man, with fairly developed forehead, probably Celtic.

2.— Human skull, probably Celtic.

3.— Fragments of human skulls.

4.—Three teeth and portion of jaw.

5.—Two       „                „

6.— Human tooth.

7.— Human femur.

8.— Human scapula and clavicle.

9.— Human finger and toe bones.

10.— Four human bones, from the stalagmitic concrete.

11.—Twelve human bones, ,,                 ,,               „

12.— Bones of child,            ,,                 „                „

13.— Four human bones,    ,,                 „                ,,

14.— Human vertebrae,       „                 ,,                „

15.— Human tibiae,              „                 „                 „

16.— Human bones,             „                 „                 „

17.— Human fibulae,            „                 „                 „

18.— Human arm bones,      „                 „                 „

19.— Human foot bones,      „                  „                „

20.— Fragments of bone, from back of narrow passage.

21.— Sheep bones,             „           „                 „

22.— Bones of hare and rabbit,       ,,                „

23.— Fox bones.

24.— Bones of ox, found with the human bones.

25.— Bones of sheep, ,,     ,,                   ,,

26.— Wild boar’s tusk.

27.— Bones of rabbits.

28.— Metatarsal bone of red deer, and six other fragments.

29.— Bone of horse’s foot.

30.— Bones of sheep.

31.— Fragments of bone of a large ox which seem to have been intentionally    broken, perhaps by persons living in the cave.

32.— Bones of horse.

33.— Bones of badger.

34.— Various ribs.

35.— Vertebrae, probably sheep.

36.— Bird, from back of narrow passage.

37.— Urn, Romano-British.

38.— Fragment of pottery, from cave entrance.

39.— Clay from cave entrance, probably glacial.

40.—    „       „       „    made into bricks.

41.—Masses of stalagmitic deposition from cave floor.

42.—      „                 ,,                 ,,        from sides of cave.

43.— Portion of jaw of shrew.

44.— Flint flake, not of chert. Neolithic or later.

45.— Parts of arm-bone (humerus of fox).

46.— Dark-coloured bones devoid of gelatine, from below the lime bed at far end of cave.

Rather than offer my thoughts on the stratigraphy, and the finds and the dates of the deposits, these imply, I will move on to the thoughts of other archaeologists. 

Bramwell (1950) considered the deposits that Wardle (1899) reported:

“In 1899 a Staffordshire, geologist, Sir Thomas Wardle investigated the floor of Old Hannah’s Cave and in his notes, he left a fairly complete account of the strata he dug through but the information on animal and human remains leaves us in doubt about several, important details. From his account, we learn that this fissure type cave was 8 yards long and 1 ½ yards wide before narrowing to terminate in a lofty round chamber.

Wardle enumerates eleven deposits of which the main are: black soil at the top, then stiff reddish soil, red clay with small limestone fragments, limey stalagmitic concretions then various deposits containing a high proportion of red sand. The whole series may be estimated to be 10 or 12 feet in depth.

Wardle’s eleven layers were not superimposed, some occurring in one place and not in another; for instance, the earthy deposits at the front of the cave were replaced by limey deposits towards the back of the cave. This is not an unusual feature in a fissure cave where the limey solution from both walls often spreads over the floor permeating the total width of the deposits. This was so in Thor's Fissure Cave, but in the much wider section of Elder Bush Cave the cementing process is found to extend only a foot or so from the walls. In the narrower back portion of E.B. Cave however, the rule still holds good.

The most interesting deposit in Old Hannah’s was the red sand. The red is no doubt due to the oxides of iron, but the sand was probably derived from the shale grit beds lying to the north and east of Wetton village, as at Sheen and Gateham. The lowest deposit in Thor’s was also sand, but complete gritstone pebbles also occurred in an overlying breccia. Recent work at Elder Bush Cave has revealed a breccia containing gritstone pebbles, whilst fine grey sand had been noted for some time from below the main bed of "bone earth”.

The conclusion drawn is that fairly late in the Pleistocene, beds of gritstone, or moraine containing gritstone, were being eroded in the district, some of the material being swept by water into the fissures and caves. The early excavators of Thor’s Cave seriously discussed a "glacial sea" which left sandy beaches and tide marks in the cave.

The upper deposits of Old Hannah's seems to have been divided off from the lower by 12 to 18 inches of red clay with limestone fragments. In Elder Bush Cave limestone fragments assume great importance as the lowest level in this "gravel" marks the last appearance of reindeer. Here also were a few patinated, long flint flakes, also a hearth and other evidence of a wandering hunter of late Palaeolithic date. The fossil form of the arctic lemming also occurred here for the last time. No small rodents seem to have been collected from Old Hannah’s there is merely one modern-looking jaw of a shrew an insectivore.

Two human skulls, human bones, and a wheel-made urn appear to be of Romano-British date, but a flint flake is vaguely described as Neolithic or later. In addition to the usual modern fauna from the upper levels, there were several bones of deer and horse from lower strata, which could possibly belong to the late Pleistocene.” 

Next we come to Bramwell’s (1974) comment on Old Hannah’s Cave: “Excavated many years ago by Sir Thomas Wardle of Swainsley Hall but the finds cannot be traced. The account speaks of Roman pottery but some flints of the blade type may have been of Mesolithic or upper Palaeolithic age.”

Branigan and Dearne (1991) commented on the pottery and sole surviving skull. Unfortunately, I have been unable to obtain a copy of this book. However some scant details of their assessment of the cave appear on the Heritage Gateway website (2012): “Branigan and Dearne suggest a Neolithic/Bronze Age date is more likely for the pottery, and state that an inspection of the sole surviving skull casts doubt on a Romano-British date for it (though they do not explain why).” 

The cave was also, visited by RCHME and Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust in 1989 as part of the Manifold Valley Caves Project. Significant deposits appear to have been left undisturbed by the early excavations. My visit confirmed that considerable deposits of compacted red earth still line the cave, but some recent digging has taken place at the entrance.

Old Hannah’s Hole entrance showing distinct lip of recent excavation. Photo: the author June 3^rd 2021.

View of cave interior, looking towards the entrance, with signs of recent digging clearly visible as a vertical lip. Photographed by the author June 3^rd 2021.

View of cave at the narrowing, 8m in. Remaining deposits are visible just below centre. Photograph: the author 3^rd June 2021.

Cave spider attacking and consuming a smaller invertebrate (woodlouse?), 10m into the cave. Photograph: the author 3^rd June 2021.

Cave spiders abound in the manifold valley and other caves of the region, such as Ravencliffe Cave in Cressbrook Dale and further afield at Anston Wood Cave.

The most common species is Meta menardi, however the specimen observed differed in size from that species, being smaller, at only 0.75cm in body length with an estimated leg span of ca. 3.5cm. The dark colouring, especially on the abdomen with its faint spots suggest Meta bourneti.

Milner (2007) lists Meta menardi, Meta merianae and an unknown cave spider from Elder Bush Cave. Whilst he mentions Meta bourneti this seems to be the first record from the Manifold Valley. 

Conclusions

1. Commentary by Bramwell (1950) and Clement Reid (via Wardle 1899) suggest that Pleistocene layers exist below those so far excavated.

2. The scatters of charcoal found through the depth of the stratigraphy indicate a long occupation, probably going back to the Pleistocene.

3. The small quantity of narrow flint blades excavated by Wardle (1899) have been characterised by Bramwell (1950 and 1974) as late Palaeolithic, that is prior to the last ice age and thus may range in age from 45-25,000BP.

4. Whilst Bramwell (1950) asserts that the finds have been lost Branigan and Dearne (1991) apparently examined one skull and some pottery. Not all finds seem to be lost therefore. The finds were originally sent to the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn St, London, the collections from which were subsumed into the Natural History Museum in 1935. Some parts of the collection may thus, still be extant.

5. The current, consensus opinion seems to be that the cave was a burial cave from the Neolithic and may well have been used as a hunting refuge from the late Palaeolithic and furthermore contain deposits of Pleistocene age. An exciting prospect indeed.

References

Bramwell, D. (1950) Cave dwellers and dens of late Pleistocene animals. Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain 1 (4): 47-52.

Bramwell, D. (1974) Archaeology in the Peak District: A Guide to the Region's Prehistory. Moorland Publishing Ashbourne. 

Branigan, K. & Dearne, M.J. (1991) A Gazetteer of Romano-British Cave Sites and their Finds. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield.

Heritage Gateway (2012). Historic England Research Records. Redhurst Cave at: https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=305570&sort=4&search=all&criteria=trent&rational=q&recordsperpage=10&p=81&move=n&nor=817&recfc=0&resourceID=19191 accessed 03.05.2021

Milner, M. (2007) A Cave and Mine Conservation Audit for the Manifold and Hamps Valley Area. Derbyshire Caving Association. 

Wardle, T. (1899). Notes on the Explosions and Reports in Redhurst Gorge and the Recent Exploration of Redhurst Cave. The North Staffordshire Field Club transactions Vol 33, Ps 97-116 

Further reading

Tommony. M. G. (1994). A Study of Neolithic and Bronze Age Cave Use in the Manifold Valley, Staffordshire - A Dissertation (if you can find it – I couldn’t!)

Derbyshire Bone Caves 6: Thor's Cave

Thor’s Cave is the most striking cave of the manifold valley. It lords it above the Manifold Trail about a mile SSE of Wetton Mill. From whatever angle you view it, it’s vast maw is an awe inspiring and slightly unsettling sight. The vast hole in the beetling crag seems to whisper “I’m here, I’ve always been here.. Enter if you dare!” And it’s true: Thor’s Cave is an ancient product of the Earth’s contorted history, a long tale with many facets; hinted at by its bulk and stygian darkness. So let us use science to unravel its mysteries and origin, before we approach its myth swathed portal.

Thor’s Cave by the author, June 2020 (see note 2 below).

The limestones of the Manifold Valley area were formed in warm tropical seas 325-355 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. These ancient seas teemed with life:  brachiopods, corals, crinoids and ammonites all flourished.

Ammonite from Thor’s Cave. SWCHS Geology (2018).

The rocks were laid down by the deposition of layers of sediment, mostly shell debris and mud, that were later compacted and cemented by calcite into hard beds of limestone and thin shale. This layered sequence also contains lens-shaped masses of reef limestone that lack obvious layering. These reefs were generally formed in shallow water.

At this time, Britain lay close to the equator, near the southern margin of the ancient continent of Laurussia. Later, these deposits were buried beneath younger Carboniferous rocks of the Millstone Grit and Coal Measures. At the end of the Carboniferous, about 300 million years ago, Laurussia and Gondwana collided in the south. The many folds, faults and fractures (joints) in the area, date from this time. Later, hot fluids circulating through the fractures deposited valuable minerals.

During the Permian, Triassic and Jurassic periods the continents continued to drift. New continents formed and split. By 200 million years ago during the Triassic, Britain was part of Laurasia, which had almost entirely split from Gondwana and now lay north of the equator.

During the Cretaceous North America, finally split away from Laurasia and drifted west. At 65 million years ago the cometary impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs occurred. Before we get to the start of the geological story as it pertains to Thor’s Cave a couple of other minor events happened: India collides with Laurasia (50Mya) and Australia completely separates from Antarctica (45Mya).

At 2 million years ago, the plateau overlying Thor’s Cave was largely intact. Surface water percolated down through the Millstone Grit and Coal Measures rocks and into Carboniferous Limestone. The faults and fractures formed millennia ago began to be eroded. The sequence of events is quite complex and it is worthwhile to take a couple of minutes to consider the process.

Underground passages in limestone areas are made almost entirely by solution rather than erosion. Water picks out lines of weakness and solution is concentrated at these points.

A bedding plane at the top of a particularly hard bed in the limestone (or perhaps an impermeable bed of shale within the limestone) could be more resistant to solution and erosion, so that rain water percolating down from the surface preferentially dissolves the overlying limestone.

Water is also able to seep along the bedding plane, so that the sites where solution is happening are joined up by tiny channels.

Solution continues and the tiny channels widen from a few millimetres to a few centimetres. One channel may start to take more water than the others and enlarges to become a small phreatic cave. Water flows more easily through the cave, solution is more rapid and the cave increases in size.

The increase in water flow also increases solution (and erosion) of the more permeable limestone below, and the phreatic tube grows in diameter.

Eventually, a cave forms. If it is entirely below the water table and phreatic solution continues on the floor, roof and walls and the cave takes on a bigger and bigger, more circular or tube-like shape.

Rivers running across the surface of the plateau above the limestone in which Thor’s Cave formed, eventually cut down below the level of the cave. Coincidentally, the nascent Manifold happened to cut across the huge phreatic tube of the cave’s north entrance. Now a huge cave entrance was revealed approximately 10m high by 7m wide! See note 1 below for sources.

According to Rowe et al. (1988), analysing data on spelothems from Elder Bush Cave, a cave approximately 100m away and at a very similar altitude dates for the ‘fossilization’ of Thor’s Cave can be fairly well determined: ““Analyses of uranium and thorium isotopes in calcite samples from thick flowstones within a high level relict cave remnant (Elder Bush Cave) indicated that the formations were beyond the range of the uranium-thorium dating technique (350 ka). ²³⁴/U//^238/U isotope activity ratios approached unity, suggesting that the flowstones may have formed a considerable time before 350 ka. Palaeomagnetic samples taken from cores drilled through the flowstones showed the presence of both normally and reversely magnetized calcite. In some cases reversely magnetized layers overlie normally magnetized layers. This evidence, taken in conjunction with the uranium isotope data, is interpreted as indicating an Olduvai age (1.66-1.87 Ma) for some of the flowstone horizons. It is suggested that the cave became vadose by or soon after 2.0 Ma. The position of the cave near the valley rim enables an estimate to be made of the maximum rate at which the present valley has been excavated. This is calculated to be 5.5 cm/ka. Remnants of old valley floors preserved within the existing valley suggest that downcutting has been a continuous process. Flowstone from a cave on one of the lower valley floor remnants (Darfur Ridge Cave) has been dated to 284 +34/-27ka allowing a maximum downcutting rate since that time of 11.2 cm/ka. The proximity of Elder Bush Cave to the valley crest suggests that its abandonment marked the onset of the incision of the present system of dales that characterize the English Peak District, presumably initiated by epeirogenic uplift or tilting.”

Thor’s Cave had become a ‘fossil cave’ – a dry and stable cave above the water table and one extremely inviting to humans from perhaps 200,000 years ago right up to Saxon times. 

Thus the spectacular gorge of the Manifold valley was formed by the erosive and solutional, effects of running water on the Carboniferous Limestone plateau during the last 2 million years. When it was first occupied by humans, is a matter of conjecture, but an early excavation uncovered a considerable amount of evidence.

Information on the first excavation of Thor’s Cave, by Samual Carrington in 1864-5, is very sparse, due to no full account being available on the net.

But who was Samuel Carrington? Luckily I stumbled upon a short biography by Zoeteweij (1986), the following is adapted from that work.

Samuel Carrington of Wetton, Staffordshire, son of Samuel and Ann Carrington, was baptised in Wetton Parish Church on 25 November, 1798 and buried in the churchyard there on 14 October, 1870.

Samuel Carrington from Anon (1874) via Zoeteweij (1986). 

Samuel junior was sent to the village school at an early age, and then followed his father down the mines, at Ecton. In his twenty-first year Samuel and his father emigrated to America but he was dissatisfied with that country and gladly returned home with the intention of never quitting again his native parish.

By 1823 he was married and had gained jobs as the village schoolmaster and parish clerk. Carrington, was a careful collector of Carboniferous fossils over many years. In particular, he collected many fine and unusual examples of brachiopods, including several new species described by Thomas Davidson (mostly in 1863); some of these remain unknown from other localities and with insecure classifications. The value of Carrington's material lies in the detailed notes on localities and associated faunas which accompany his fossils, and which Davidson commonly quoted in his publications. Several of these notes remain with Carrington specimens in the collection of material figured by Davidson in his classic Palaeontographical Society Monographs, now housed in the British Museum

A good friend, [Anon (1874)], who met Samuel Carrington in about 1835 describes him thus: “His studies then were mostly botanical, and he was accustomed to make drawings of almost every wild plant he met with. They are extremely accurate, and have the natural air, so as to be immediately recognised. He was also observant of insects. His geological and antiquarian researches were only just begun, arid his few specimens, some of which were then of the wonderful description, occupied a portion of his pantry. We could hardly foresee that he was to become one of the most assiduous collectors in England, doubtless so of mountain limestone fossils, and the discoverer of many new forms, some of which bear his name. Under the patronage of the late Mr. Bateman, of Youlgreave, he commenced that course of barrow opening which has rendered both of them well known to archaeologists. Our friend took a good share of the work; he also made special researches on the sites of ancient British dwellings at the Borough in his own im mediate neighbourhood. Under the auspices of the Midland Scientific Institute he extended researches, which had been previously made, in the floor of Thor's Cavern; many remains of a Romano-British character were found, though none of primeval man..

He took an interest in the topography of his own district, unsurpassed as it is in objects fitted to create it; each rock and tor and cairned hill summit, each dale, fissure, or cavern, was well known to him, and he took much interest in the derivation of their name.”

As mentioned above, there is very little information on the first excavation of Thor’s Cave, by Samual Carrington in 1864-5, due to no full account being available on the net.

So, let me remedy that for you. Below is a direct transcript of Carrington’s (1865) account published in The Reliquary of which I was very happy to discover a copy for sale in Ireland.

Thor’s Cave from Carrington (1866). Note that in the view of the west entrance at right, a small elliptical mark at the top of the gully may be seen Thor’s Fissure Cave, the subject of a future post.

Carrington gives quite a thorough account of the excavations, contrary to what some commentators say:

“The cave, although partly choked with mud, has long been esteemed as the greatest natural object of curiosity in these parts. The interior, even before operations were commenced to clear it, was both chaste and grand. From the centre a massive pillar arose from the floor perpendicularly to the roof, where it spread out like a palm-tree, giving a cathedral appearance, and a greater security to the roof. A second pillar, called the altar, rose immediately beyond this and reached about half the height of the other, dividing by their junction the cave into two parallel passages, the capacious one tending in a straight line towards the east; the other turning at a right angle with the altar towards the south. The mud or clay formed a smooth floor, which from the trampling of visitors during ages, was almost as impenetrable to the shovel as a macadamised road; at the main entrance it formed but a thin layer, which rapidly increased in depth, forming a steep slope, that almost reached the roof at the end of the east branch, yet leaving sufficient room for a man to creep along the tops of the fissures into which this branch is divided.

About one half of the south branch was completely blocked up. In addition to the great northern, there is a large open cleft in the west side (shown on Plate XVII), in a direct line with the east division, so that betwixt them the interior to a short distance beyond the altar was well lighted. Beyond them, owing to the rapid rising of the mud, it gradually merged into total darkness.

Several excavations have been made in the cave by different persons in the expectation of discovering the remains of extinct animals without success, still it appeared probable that something of an interesting character might be brought to light, by clearing out the whole.

Stimulated by this belief, Mr Edwin Brown, of Burton-on-Trent, pointed out to members of the Midland Scientific Association, the possibility of the relics of primitive life being buried therein, when the sum of five pounds was voted towards the operations, and it was agreed that the objects which might be discovered should be deposited in the Derby Town and County Museum. The consent of His Grace the Duke of Devonshire was obtained, when I, at their request, undertook to superintend the operations, which accordingly were commenced the second day of September 1864, and continued at intervals until the third day of October 1865.

Frequently six labourers were employed, so that the first grant of money was soon expended; but liberal subscriptions from individuals enabled us to carry on the work, when but little hopes remained of anything further being added to what already was found. The form of the Cave will be best understood by the plan given on Plate XVIII.”

Thor’s Cave floor plan from Carrington (1866).

Thor’s Cave floor plan from Brown (1865). Original caption reads: Plate 2, Fig. 1 – Plan of Thor’s Cave shewing the width of the passages at about five feet above the line at which the excavations ceased.

The letters refer to the sections on plates 2 and 3.

N. The grand entrance facing nearly due north.

Q. The Narrow opening in which occur the tidal marks.

R. R’. R’’. R’’’. narrow fissures which have not yet been explored. These are filled very nearly to the level of the top with clay.

S. Unexplored passage filled with clay.

T. Lofty detached stone, called the ”Altar Stone.”

T’. T’’. Columns of stone, reaching to the roof, and dividing the cave into two aisles.

U. The place where the female skeleton was discovered.

W. The place where the ancient fragment of deer’s horn was discovered.

The shading indicates the portion of the floor in which antiquities were found.

Figs. O.N. and P.N. represent longitudinal sections, in which the dotted portions indicate sand; the diagonal shading, diluvial clay; and the cross shading that portion of the clay which had been disturbed by the dwellers in the cave.

Transverse sections of Thor’s Cave from Brown (1865). Original caption reads:

Plate 3 – Six transverse sections of the cave, in which the sand, clay and mud are indicated as on plate 2, and the breccia and charcoal floors by respectively, strong, irregular and diagonal lines.

The lines exterior to the sections show the dip of the rock.

A.B. Breccia; sand and mud

C.D. Pebbles; sand and small pebbles in layers; mud with layers of charcoal.

E.F. Sand; clay and mud

G.H. Stratified sand, which is agglutinated by calcareous infiltration on the side towards H; clay with fragments of fallen rock.

I.K. Sand; clay under and overlying a broken floor of breccia. At a was found the ancient fragment of deer’s horn.

L.M. sand stratified and tilted at a high angle; clay with masses of breccia, partly adhering to the side L, and partially dispersed through the clay in masses.

Carrington continues:

“We began by clearing the floor a little within the north entrance, where it rose too abruptly for a wheelbarrow road, consequently we made a causeway on the west side so as to get a level with the interior, and also more effectually to cast out the debris down the precipice in front. Another raised way was formed through the west aperture, so that two sets of men could be employed without hindrance to each other. We had not been long at work before it was apparent that it had been occupied by man, by finding the mud intermixed with ashes, animal bones, and fragments of pottery. Shortly an instrument of green stone, somewhat resembling a Celt, turned up, then a square whetstone, after that the fragment of a quern, a sandstone disc perforated in the centre, and an instrument formed by the brow antler of the stag, cut and perforated much like a whistle. On the east side of the passage, just before it reached the turning point to the east branch, we found a circular pavement close to the rock, formed of very thin stones, with much charcoal and ashes upon and around them. Many instruments, formed of various materials, were discovered in the wide part, just before we reached the first pillar. On approaching it we found a bed of ashes at the depth of two feet, which the labourers denominated the “Midden.” Many animal bones and potsherds were mixed up in it. On arriving at the pillar, after digging through one foot of mud or clay, we came upon a bed charcoal which extended from the pillar to the opposite side, it was more than one foot thick and free from any mixture whatever; about a foot below this was another bed of charcoal, about the same thickness as the first; this was intermixed with bones and some fragments of pottery. Again after digging through another intervening foot of clay, we came upon a third bed of charcoal, in which bones and pot-sherds were found in greater abundance than in the other; also some instruments of iron, comprising a large fork, a broad cutting instrument, and some other implements of the same material, but of indeterminate use. These alternate beds continued pretty uniform to the extent of about 9 feet along the passage. Arriving at a large loose block of limestone, we found that some previous explorer had dug down to the rock through clay and sand a depth of seven feet, but had overlooked one of those singular whistle-like instruments, which we found near the bottom of the original excavation. The next discovery was made near to the altar, which was that of a human skeleton, minus the head and lower arm bones. It lay on its left side, with the shoulders to the north-east, in the primitive contracted position, a very unusual one in the period which the interment will appear to have taken place [Boyd Dawkins (1874) suggests that this was characteristic of the Neolithic interment in Europe]. Open burrows, such as might be scratched out by foxes, were round and beneath the skeleton, which may account for the dismemberment; an upper jaw with one tooth remaining attached to it, and two ulnae, were found in the sand lower down, and seven feet from the surface. The Femur measured sixteen inches, and is apparently female. A “whistle” similar to the others was found in close proximity to the interment.

Collection of “whistles” excavated by Carrington, the one 3rd from the left was found with the female internment.

Modern analysis of the “whistles” from Thor’s Cave identifies them as cheek pieces for use in a primitive, Iron Age bridle and halter. Indeed, some examples may well be for this use, however not all the antler examples shown above fit this pattern. Of particular note, in this regard is number 35, found with the Neolithic, crouched burial of a woman as the use of horses as beasts of burden and for riding did not arrive in Britain until the Bronze Age. Photo from Wonders of the Peak (2020).

We had not proceeded far from the grave, when we found that another and deeper excavation had been made and again filled up, which was indicated by the mixture of animal bones, broken pottery, and stalactites from the surface, as in the other. They had penetrated to the rock through clay and sand, which here was fifteen feet in depth. An instrument of iron was found at the depth of ten feet, somewhat like a pickaxe. It is a little more than one foot long, and pointed at each end, and without any perforation for a helve. Our progress was now much impeded by some very large blocks of limestone that had fallen from the roof or sides, while the water was washing in the clay and sand. Some of these were buried, others were partly bare, but none were found as low as the rocky floor. But little was found of much importance (with one exception), in the south branch. A few small bones, and a tooth either of the hog or bear [Brown 1865 determined it to be bear] lay in vacancies that occurred betwixt the indurated masses of clay and sand and the rock. The bones of a fawn were found in one of the burrows, which abounded here in the sand as they did in the other branch. Soon after this division was entered an object was found, not of much importance in itself, but being found in a situation so unexpected is calculated to puzzle inquiries how or when it got there. The object alluded to is a brow antler of a stag’s horn, which was found imbedded in compact clay, that to all appearance had not been disturbed since the deposition thereof by water. A description of the superincumbent materials may serve to shew the puzzling position of the horn. Beneath one foot deep of mud or clay, a bed of conglomerated gritstone boulders extended nearly across the cave, being half-a-yard or more in thickness on the left hand, where it adhered to the rock. In the middle it was dislocated and towards the right hand side, where the horn was found, it lay in thin scattered fragments, none of which reached quite to the side. The horn was found at the depth of four feet from the surface of the clay, and nearly the same distance from the side of the cave. Now it could be proved that the horn could only be deposited there by the influx of water whether of a sea or a river, it would be corroborative of the extreme antiquity of man, but the greatest apparent probability will not satisfy the inquirer after truth. In this instance a doubt must ever rest upon every mind as to its real value as an index to that extreme antiquity, partly in consequence of the scattered fragmentary state of the conglomerate above, and the possibility that it might have got there by other means, and the cavity closed up by water trickling down the rock and carrying fine particles of clay, which in the case of two or three thousand years, and the trampling of man above, may account for the homogeneousness of the matrix in which it was found.

Many open burrows were found here in the underlying sand, as in the other part, being secured from the disintegrating effect of the atmosphere by the great accumulation of rubbish above, the scratches were as fresh as if but a day. One vault, from its superior size, we were inclined to attribute to the bear, the lower part was rubbed smooth by the creatures body, four indentations by the nails in the upper part of the vault measured across averaged 3 inches, their parallelism in fours seemed to be the effect of one stroke, the fifth toe being too short to leave any impression. There are many small rounded perforations in the sides of the cave, too straight for any animal larger than a badger or fox to enter, such of them that we found buried in the sand, had in all instances been directly reached, as if their whereabouts was known before the introduction of the sand, &c, by the water; perhaps they had been instinctively led by sound reverberated from them whilst scratching.

We have also noticed before that the fissures into which the east end is subdivided were not filled to the roof. It was thought advisable to investigate them, as in all probability they might have served for the retreat of pre-existing animals. Only a few small bones were found in the largest fissure, similar to others found scattered near the surface of the mud in other places. The largest fissure, from the width it began to attain before abandoned, appeared likely to be connected with one or more of the others. The work was now given up.”

Human worked horn found below all other artifacts in the cave and in situ with the clay, from Carrington (1866). Drawing by Carrington himself.

There is a second text describing the excavation of Thor’s Cave. This time by Edwin Brown of the Midland Scientific Association, who was instrumental in monies being found from his own association, to fund the dig by Carrington. Again, no version of the text is available online. Having obtained a copy via an antiquarian book dealer, I transcribe below a description of discovery of the most important find: the ancient perforated deer horn from the south branch of the cave:

  

 “In the south recess, behind and below any signs of man’s occupation, the diggers came upon a kind of flooring of tabular masses of breccia, stretching almost across the cave, and on one side attached firmly to the wall, beneath this the mud consisted of almost of pure adhesive clay. In this perfectly undisturbed stratum, to which man apparently had never previously had access, the workmen came upon the end of a deer’s horn, cut across by means of some rude instrument, probably a flint saw, and perforated by two holes, most likely for suspension. This is a startling fact, - an indication of man’s existence prior to the latter portion of the glacial epoch! I have carefully examined into the facts of the case upon the spot, and, to my mind, on the supposition that the cave was really filled with clay by the glacial sea, the great antiquity of the relic cannot be doubted. Mr Carrington, I may remark, had no theory to support, indeed he was quite unprepared for such a piece of evidence, and his long experience in barrow research is an ample guarantee for his carefulness and discrimination.

May we venture to hypothesise, that men of the flint age lived contemporaneously in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, with the glacial sea? I do not know how otherwise to explain the occurrence of the manufactured horn in an undisturbed glacial deposit..”

The horn found in the clay of south branch of the cave, from Brown (1865) plate 14. Note that this is drawn by a different artist.

While both authors tend towards the horn being found in situ and undisturbed, Brown certainly argues the case for this most strongly. No C14 dating, as far as I am aware has been attempted on the horn.

How then are we to put a date for the deposition of the clay layer containing the horn? Fortunately some dating attempts have been made in regard to the formation of the Manifold Caves. Rowe et al. (1988) date the final evolution of the adjacent Elder Bush Cave into a vadose, fossil cave at or soon after 2.0 million years ago. The excavation of that cave by Bramwell (1964) showed a clear and undisturbed stratigraphy, with his layers 7, 8 and 9. These consisted of 9: red cave earth of stiff red clay; 8: Flaky stalagmite, a limited deposit found interstratified with layer 7 [but also shown in his Fig 2. as intrusive into layer 9] found in certain areas of the cave assumed to be ‘wet patches’; 7: Sandy cave earth. It was so named because it contained bones. The absence of clay binding the sand particles indicates dry conditions and indicates the sand probably has an aeolian origin.

Thus as the same sequence that is found in the Elder Bush Cave occurs in Thor’s Cave, we may hypothesise that the layer in which the horn was found is of the same age as some part of Bramwell’s layer 9. This has been accepted by modern authors, such as Lewis et al. (2011) as of Early Devensian age, or about 95-85Ka in MIS5b.

Admittedly, this is a stretch as only one other confirmed instance of man’s presence has been found in the UK of this age. The site in question is in Kent, where Wenban-Smith et al. (2010) found a lithic assemblage attributed to Neanderthals. However there was a similarly anomalously aged bone implement of similar age found in the Elder Bush Cave from the top of layer 9, namely a bone point made on a reindeer metacarpal worked to a point (see my post on Elder Bush Cave here).

Bramwell (1950) comments on the horn: “The most, interesting find in Thor’s Cave was a piece of roughly sawn deer antler pierced by two holes, as though for suspension. As this was dug from clay below the breccia, it seems to require a late Palaeolithic date. In view of undoubted late Palaeolithic material from Thor’s Fissure Cave and Elder Bush Cave, this would not be so unlikely.”

Therefore, Carrington’s excavation of Thor’s Cave, may actually have found what he was looking for: evidence of the extreme antiquity of man in White Peak, less than a mile from his house! 

  

References

Anon. (1874) Memoir of Samuel Carrington, 2pp., + appendices. [Only copy seen (Figs.1-5) is in Stoke-on-Trent City Libraries, Horace Barks Reference Library*;

undated, but internal evidence suggests 1874.]

Bramwell,  D. (1950) Cave Dwellers and Dens of Late Pleistocene Animals in the Manifold Valley, Staffordshire. Cave Research Group of Gt. Britain (CRG): Transactions Vol 1 (4) p43-52           

Bramwell, D. (1964). The Excavations at Elder Bush Cave, Wetton, Staffs. North Staffordshire journal of field studies vol. 4, Page(s) 46-60

Brown, E. (1865).  “The Exploration of Thor’s Cave" Transactions of the Midland Scientific Association for 1865. Pages 1-6, 19-30 and 70-71,

Dawkins, B. (1874). Cave Hunting, MacMillan and Company.

Carrington, S. (1866). “Account of the Excavations and Discoveries in Thor’s Cave, Wetton Dale”, The Reliquary, Vol. 6, April 1865-66

Lewis, S. G., Ashton N. and R Jacobi (2011). Testing Human Presence During the Last Interglacial (MIS5e): A Review of the British Evidence in Developments in Quaternary Science vol. 14 p. 131. N. Ashton, S. Lewis and C. Stringer eds.

Rowe, P, Austin, T, and Atkinson, T. (1988). Quaternary evolution of the British south Pennines from uranium series and palaeomagnetic data. Ann. Soc. Geol. Belg. Vol. 111:1 p97-106

SWCHS Geology (2018) at: https://twitter.com/swchsgeology/status/1002226424604917761?lang=en accessed 26.07.20

Wenban‐Smith, F.F., Bates, M.R. and Schwenninger, J.L., 2010. Early Devensian (MIS 5d–5b) occupation at Dartford, southeast England. Journal of Quaternary Science, 25(8), pp.1193-1199.

Wonders of the Peak (2020) at: https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/facts/thors-cave/ accessed 26.07.20

Zoeteweij, F. (1986).  Collections, Collectors and Museums of Note, No. 49 Samuel Carrington (1798-1870). Geological Curator, Vol.4, No.5, pp.281-286

Notes

1. The Geological information on the Manifold Valley and Thor’s Cave was drawn from numerous websites. For those interested, more information can be found at the following:

BGS (2020) at: https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/limestoneLandscapes/undergroundFeatures/Caves.html accessed 26.07.20

Earthguide (2008) at: http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/eoc/teachers/t_tectonics/p_pangaea2.html#:~:text=When%20Pangaea%20broke%20up%2C%20the,southern%20continent%20is%20called%20Gondwanaland. accessed 26.07.20

Encyclopaedia Britannica (2020) at: https://www.britannica.com/science/Carboniferous-Period accessed 26.07.20

Geolearning (2020) at: https://www.geo.fu-berlin.de/en/v/geolearning/gondwana/timeline/index.html accessed 26.07.20

Staffs Ecology (2020) at: http://srigs.staffs-ecology.org.uk/Geotrails/HampsManifold/hampsbackground.pdf accessed 26.07.20

Wikipedia (2019) at: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurussia accessed 26.07.20

2. Thor’s Cave is of course in Staffordshire, but for the purpose of this series I have appropriated a number of caves from adjacent counties to broaden the perspective of their occupation.