Several visits were necessary to
locate Ravencliffe cave in high summer 2019. The vegetation was very tall and
dense, the dale side very steep and the path non-existent. On one early
attempt, I took too high a line and ended up amidst crags on very steep ground,
with the only exit upwards via a 70o gulley of lush vegetation!
Views from below are completely blocked by tall trees, therefore it was
incredibly difficult to find. Once I finally stood on the threshold I took a
GPS reading. The correct coordinates are:
Ravencliffe cave entrance.
Photograph by N. Barden May 2019.
Interior view of the cave ibid.
Adapted from Historic England (2015):
“The cave, is located in, the Derbyshire Peak District on the eastern side of
Cressbrook Dale. It was explored between 1902 and 1906, and again between 1927
and 1929.”
Ravencliffe Cave initial
excavations January 1903 from Storrs Fox (1910).
Ravencliffe Cave excavation in
1906 from Storrs Fox (1910).
Ravencliffe Cave excavation 1928
from Storrs Fox (1928)
Comparing these last three views
with the two by the author above, it is clear that a huge depth of sediments
was removed during the two periods of excavation.
Historic England (2015)
continues: “In both instances the published reports are rather lacking in
detail. Items recovered from the cave include "an isolated scraper of
uncertain affinity" (Campbell), but regarded as Upper Palaeolithic;
Neolithic polished stone axes, a leaf arrowhead, scrapers and sherds of
Peterborough Ware; Beaker sherds; two strips of ribbed gold, possibly representing
some kind of ornament, (bracelets?) of Bronze Age date; collared urn sherds;
Iron Age pottery; Roman pottery, glass beads, bronze brooches, stone hones and
shale beads. A bronze awl and some bone items including a ring are probably
later prehistoric in date. One glass bead may be Saxon. Human and animal
remains were also recovered. The former are generally regarded as later
prehistoric in date. The latter may cover all periods from the Palaeolithic to the
Roman period.”
Contrary to the Historic England
(2015) assessment of the excavations, consulting the original papers by Storrs
Fox (1910 and 1928) and Read (1910), I find them quite detailed and thoughtful for their
time.
Here is Storrs Fox’s description
of the cave:
“Cressbrook Dale has its origin
near Wardlow Mires, and for about half a mile takes a south-westerly course to
Peter’s Stone. From thence its general position is in a direction due south to
Cressbrook Mill, where it joins Monsal Dale. The imposing crags on the east
side of Cressbrook Dale are cut in the base of Wardlow Hay Cop, a conical hill
whose summit is 1227 feet above sea-leveI. One of these crags looks down on the
little block of houses generally called Bury-me-wick, but marked on the
ordnance map as Ravendale Cottages.
It is in this crag 1000 feet
above sea-level that the ca.ve is situated. Its mouth faces south-west. The
cave is formed by the falling-in of the roof between two main joints which run
parallel to a line drawn across the entrance. A reference to the roofplan will
make this plain. The wall at the back of the cave is formed by the solid rock
beyond the first joint; a sudden drop in the height of the roof takes place at
the next one, at a third the cave widens out into a chamber within the more
narrow entrance, and at a fourth the entrance begins in the face of the crag.
The ground-plan gives some idea of the difficulty of the work. At E there stood
up above the floor a mass of detached blocks of rock cemented together and
deeply encrusted with stalagmite. This mass extended eastward below the floor
and reached to, a known depth of 7 ft. between this and the north-western side
of the entrance (marked I on the plan) there was a cascade of stalagmite.
Beneath the surface this was found to dip very suddenly towards the opposite
side of the cave, and soon all trace of it was lost. At D a large block rose
above the surface. Such were the main features of the cave; others are
mentioned in the explanation at the foot of the plan.”
Storrs Fox describes the
difficulties encountered during the excavations thus:
“The exploration of this cave was
attended with unusual difficulties. Large blocks of rock, fallen from its roof,
and heaped up in disorderly fashion formed the floor. Throughout quite half the
area of the cave these blocks were firmly cemented together with stalagmite.
This condition of things not only made excavation laborious and sometimes
practically, impossible, but also rendered it hopeless to look for traces of
distinct beds, except in one or two isolated regions. Moreover, its
chronological sequence was marred in other ways. Rabbits had burrowed among the
looser material of the floor, and the gaps between the blocks had provided a
ready means for both ancient and modern pottery and implements to find their
way clown far below their proper level.
Another serious difficulty was
caused by the unsafe state of the roof. This was flat and formed by a, bed of
rock stretching the whole distance across the cave, firmly supported only at the
north-western side. On the other side it was broken.
Moreover, the crack ran in the
wrong direction to afford support, consequently the removal of material below
would probably cause a slight subsidence, but sufficient to bring the whole
roof down. This danger was increased by the fact that the south-eastern wall was
(at C) formed by a detached block of stone with its edge resting on a second
block (B), which in turn lay upon a bed of small stones, or chitter. It was
therefore unwise to attempt to carry the excavation to any great depth, and
before long the necessary supports to the roof made it impossible, Although the
mixed character of the finds detracts somewhat from the interest of the cave,
its value as a cave was increased by the evidence of its former extension outwards
from the present mouth towards the dale, and the discovery of a prehistoric
piece of walling, many feet below the surface, with a sealed passage at the
opposite corner of the cave containing little else but remains of bear.”
Plan of Ravencliffe Cave from
Storrs Fox (1910). Original caption reads:
B Detached block of rock (below the surface) on which C partly rested.
C Detached block of rock forming part of the cave wall. D Mass of rock rising 2
feet above the floor-level. E Large mass of detached rocks. G Area in which
human remains were first met with, H Small pinnacle of rock above the floor
level. I "Cascade" of stalagmite, M Entrance of the Bear passage. O
Passage. P Passage. * Position of the gold bands.
On the excavations Storrs Fox
reports:
“Outside the cave lay a rough
terrace terminating abruptly towards the dale in a low, precipitous crag. It
was at the very edge of this that operations were begun. This was made
imperative by the necessity of getting rid of refuse material.
A wide trench was cut along the
whole length of this terrace, all the material down to the solid rock being
removed. The rock dips backwards towards tire cave, and the depth of material
overlying it varied from 4 ft. near the edge to 11 ft. at the entrance to the
cave.
Within a distance of 5 ft. from
the edge of the terrace large blocks of stalagmite were met with. About 7 ft.
nearer the cave the blocks were exchanged for a solid bed of stalagmite,
persisting to a depth of 4 ft. throughout the remaining stretch of terrace.
This bed and the above-mentioned blocks lay a few inches above the limestone,
being separated from it by a layer of very fine yellowish soil, which contained
here and there
remains of reindeer, rhinoceros,
and bear. Just within the cave bones and teeth of the last two animals were
found above the stalagmite, which was there covered by several feet of yellow
gravelly earth.
Human bones were first met with
in the area marked G on the plan. More or less under B were found a
spoon-shaped worked flint, 3.45 ins. long and 1.7 ins. across (plate iii. 3,
top illustration); a well-polished awl, 3.22 ins. long, made from the
metapodial bone of a sheep or goat (plate iii. 6, bottom illustration); and a
bone ring (plate iii. 8, bottom
illustration).
At the back of the cave a trench
was found. It was about 3 ft. wide and lay between the cave wall and rock-mass,
E.
At its south-eastern end it was 4
ft. deep; but it gradually sloped down towards the opposite extremity till it
reached a depth of 6 ft, Here its boundaries became ill-defined; but at the
more shallow end it was closed by rock and stalagmite.
Its bottom was formed by a sheet
of stalagmite another, though less perfect. sheet sealing it above. In this
trench gold ornaments, a bronze penannular brooch, a bronze awl, and several
implements of bone and flint were found. These were mixed up indiscriminately
with quantities of human bones and those of deer, boar, ox, sheep, and goat.
The human bones 400 in
number-included those of adults of different ages, and of children down, to
earliest babyhood. Only eighteen fragments of skull were found, and there was nothing
approaching to a complete one. There were, however, seven mandibles (all
adult), as well as thirteen broken pieces of others.
Near the passage O the excavation
was carried down to a depth of 7 ft. The solid limestone forming the wall at
the back of the cave abruptly ended near this level, and beneath it were the
remains of a wall which had apparently enclosed a chamber. In this chamber a
stone celt and some flints were found.
The passage P was cleared out,
but it contained nothing of much interest. But another passage was found
running in a south-easterly direction from M, averaging about 4 ft. high and 5
ft. wide, and extending for a length of 21 ft., when it abruptly came to an
end. This passage was filled nearly to the top with earth and stones,
containing a considerable quantity of bears' bones, both Ursus spelaeus and Ursus
horribilis occurring. A sheet of stalagmite-thicker towards the sides, and
in contact with the roof there, but thin and sometimes discontinued midway
across, where it was divided from
the roof by a space of two or
three inches-rested upon the material which filled the passage.
The work was begun in December,
1902 and was finally abandoned in January, 1908.”
The faunal remains excavated
belonged to the following species:
Man, 400; Cat, 32; Dog (or Wolf),
87; Fox, 152; Badger, 13; Bear, 178; Ox, 131; Sheep and Goat, uncounted; Deer,
48; Boar,45; Horse, 9; [Woolley] Rhinoceros,
15; Hare, 57; Rabbit and Vole, uncounted; Bird (including 1 of Eagle) 101 and Frog
and Toad, uncounted.
This is an interesting list with two bear
species: Ursus spelaeus and Ursus horribilis. The first is well
known to modern palaeontologists as the Cave Bear but we can only surmise that
Storrs Fox meant ‘large brown bear’ for U.
horribilis, this is because the closest bear species with this Latin
appellation is the north American Grizzly bear, which is confined to the
continent of the same name.
Ravencliffe Cave bear remains
from Manchester Museum by Gelsthorpe (2018).
The key facts are:
- Some disturbance to sedimentary sequence was seen
- Cold stage fauna were noted
- Cold stage fauna were found above and below the stalagmite layer
- Human skeletal material was abundant, but no crouched or extended burial were seen, only what appear to have been exhumations, at the back of the cave
- A singular walled niche at the bottom of the trench at the back of the cave, although it contained a celt [an axe-like tool] and flint tools but no burial. This structure is highly suggestive of some of the encisted, cave burials such as those on the Magnesian Limestone at Markland Grips Sepulchral Cave, Langwith Cave and Ash Tree Cave [see Beresford (2011)] and my post on Calling Low Dale (see here).
- Whilst Read (1910) described all the finds, except the fauna, Storrs Fox could not help mention those he felt of particular interest and give their relative positions – this included “a spoon-shaped worked flint, 3.45 ins. long and 1.7 ins. across”
The DCC Wonders of the Peak (2018)
website also reports mammoth, woolly rhino and reindeer.
All other finds were described by
Sir Hercules Read, President of the Society of Antiquaries, and Director of the
Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities at the British Museum [Read
(1910)].
First he provides the following
opinions on the stratigraphy:
“The exploration of caves that
have been used by man as habitations or otherwise is a fascination pursuit and
rarely fails to add somewhat to our knowledge of the past. At the same time the
conditions, natural or artificial, are rarely such as allow the investigator to
read the story of its successive occupations. It is but seldom that
stratification tells the story in consecutive and well-arranged chapters as was
the case at Kent's Cavern, near Torquay. There the layers succeeded in clear
sequence from the Palaeolithic period up to a few centuries ago. All that was
needed was some indication of the length of the intervals between the various
periods, and this may yet be forthcoming from such a site.
In the Ravencliffe Cave we have
just the same mixture of periods, though the occupation of the cave itself does
not seem to date beyond the Neolithic age; but the relics of most recent date
Are even more modern than those of Kent's Cavern.”
The finds included:
Neolithic stone tools: 2 stone
axes, flint scrapers, other tools, rubbers and hammers of quartzite. Bone instruments
and fragments of pottery.
Some stone tools which Read deems
worthy of note are described in detail: “The larger of the two stone axes
(plate iii, fig. 1 top illustration [see below]) is a stout square-shaped tool,
polished only near the cutting edge; the main part of the body is rough, and
pitted so regularly and evenly as to suggest intentional bruising. In any case,
the roughened surface would make a firmer hold for the wooden handle. The smaller
axe (plate iii., fig. 2, top illustration) is of I more elegant and symmetrical
form, and presents an entirely different aspect.
The flints have no very uncommon features. They
include a good number of scrapers, mostly, of the short, rounded type found
commonly in Derbyshire. One scraper, however, is of the duck's bill type (plate
iii., fig. 8, top illustration), carefully chipped not only at the rounded
fore-edge, but along the two sides also. One or two knives are also notable
for, their serviceable appearance (plate iii., fig. 4, top illustration). The
condition of the flints as to colour and patination is very diverse; the
colours are black, translucent honey colour, and some pieces are grey. The
patination shows less variety, one or two implements having a white cloudy
tint; but the majority of the chipped surfaces are practically unchanged,
either in colour or condition.”
Stone tools from Ravencliffe Cave
- Read (1910). The plate is numbered I
in contradiction to his text. Original caption reads: 3.- Spoon-shaped flint
implement. 7.-Rude implement of chert, with worked edge.
Bone and bronze objects from
Ravencliffe Cave – Read (1910). This plate is numbered II in contradiction to his text. Original
caption reads: 6. - Awl made from sheep's metapodial bone 8 - Bone ring
10,- Awl made from splint-bone of horse 11 -Bronze awl
Of the pottery finds Read stated
nothing more really, than that they were of late Neolithic or early Bronze age
or later and were often calcified. Other pottery included Roman Castor ware.
Of the bone implements, he says:
“The general aspect of some of the bone tools recalls those from Harborough
Cave but they are hardly of the same age, and do not present the same well-defined
types that sufficed to date the Harborough specimens with some certainty. In
all probability the bone tools belong mainly to the same age as the pottery
fragments - i.e., the barrow period..” In other words he assigns them to the
late Neolithic or bronze age. He goes on to hazard some of their uses:
“Two pointed strips of bone
(plate iii.. figs. 5, 14, bottom illustration) recall the use of similarly
shaped bones from the Swiss lake dwellers, who, by binding a number of such
bone strips together, made a rude kind of comb that might well serve usefully in
weaving.” Bone tools also from the
Bronze consisted of, a number, of interesting pieces: awls made from sheep's metapodial bone,
splint-bone of horse, a bone ring. Lastly spathulate bone stylus, possibly used
in the decoration of pottery and a pierced bone tube – possibly a toggle - he
assigns to the Romano-British era.
Articles in Bronze included an awl and two
broaches one of undoubted, Roman influence.
Bronze broach of 2nd
century AD. Picture from Smith (1912).
Last but definitely not least,
are the two beautiful, finely beaten and incised gold bands. Of these Read
(1910) says: “The objects, however, found in the cave which are of most
intrinsic value, and are, at the same time, the most puzzling to explain, are
two gold bands, alike enough to be called a pair. They are ridged
lengthwise in somewhat rude fashion, and the edges of the metal are lapped over
on the back. No means of attachment to any garment or other object is now to be
seen, and it is most difficult to suggest what purpose they can have served.
The nearest analogy that I know, is to be found in a gold band in the museum at
Nantes. This is figured in "Parenteau" Inventaire Archeologique
(Nantes' 1878), pl.6r, No. 1. This is stated, on page 2 of the same volume, to
have been found with copper axes under " roches druidiques," at
Saint-Pere-en-Retz If the Ravencliffe bands have any relation to these Brittany
examples, it would point to their being of the early Bronze period, an
attribution fully borne out by their inherent qualities of style In fact it is
by no means unlikely that the gold bands are the contemporaries of the stone
axes and the flint flakes found in the Ravencliffe Cave. The evidence of the
barrow finds would fully bear this out.”
The two gold bands
excavated at the back of Ravencliffe cave, from The British Museum (2020). Here
is their description: “Gold decorated strip. Rectangular strip made with a
beaten sheet of gold and decorated with irregular embossed ribs and incised
lines. The four edges of the sheet have been bent over to form defined rims.
And the curator’s opinion: “Listed by Taylor (1980, 136, Dr 2) as a hilt band.
Similar multi-grooved strips of Bronze Age date are known from north-west
Europe including in the British Museum collection from Flixton, Yorkshire
(2004,0904.1a-b). Narrow-ribbon ornaments from the Saint-Marc-le-Blanc hoard,
Brittany (Eluère 1981, 91, fig. 107), have fewer and correspondingly broader
ribs/grooves. They are finer on an earring from Saint-Père-en-Retz, Loire-
Atlantique, (ibid.) and finer still on some Irish Bronze Age ornaments. Among
the latter are examples in two important associations, from Saintjohns, Co.
Kildare, and Derrinboy, Co. Offaly (Eogan 1983, 227, 240, fig. 11b and 14).
Good parallels are harder to find in Britain, but there is a similar grooved
strip from The Hamel, Oxford, excavated from a layer which also yielded Beaker
pottery of the Early Bronze Age (Palmer 1980, 124-134). Three gold grooved
strips from Scottish grave finds which served as hilt/pommel mounts for Early
Bronze Age daggers are crafted differently and may be less relevant (Henshall
1968, 173-95; contra Taylor 1980, 136).”
To summarize Read (1910) his key
points were
- The stratigraphy is disturbed
- No occupation before the Neolithic
- Many Bronze Age and Romano-British finds in flint, bone and gold
- His plate numbered II shows the unusual scraper, with the caption underneath reading “3.- Spoon-shaped flint implement”. Inexplicably he offers no commentary on it, despite it being an obvious anachronism by its chipping technique, suggestive of a much earlier date. Yet he is obviously is aware that it is an important piece, from his inclusion of it in his caption below the plate. From this, I conclude that he had his suspicions of its likely much older origin, but did not want to ‘stick his neck out’ and state this explicitly.
The true nature of this scraper
emerged slowly, and in curious fashion. I will let Storrs Fox (1928) take up
the story:
“It has already been stated that
the purpose of the work in 1927 and 1928 was the discovery of traces of
Palaeolithic man. Now, it happened that on 1st June, 1905, a flint implement of
peculiar form and character was found inside the cave in the area marked I on
the plan, and it was extracted from the Pleistocene bed. It was shown to an
authority at the British Museum, and he stated that it was Neolithic, and it
would have been impertinence on the part of an amateur to have questioned the
diagnosis of an expert. Moreover, the report was divided into two parts, and
the second part, dealing with artifacts, was written by Sir Hercules Read,
President of the Society of Antiquaries, and Director of the Department of
British and Mediaeval Antiquities at the British Museum. The implement in
question was illustrated on the upper part of Plate III, fig. 3, and it was in
the hands of Sir Hercules Read when he wrote his account of the artifacts.
Nevertheless, he passed it over
in complete silence. On p. 147 he remarked, " the occupation of the cave
does not seem to date beyond the Neolithic age." That no doubt is true so
far as actual occupation is concerned, and so far as evidence has been
forthcoming up to date.
But in 1927, the Abbe Breuil and
Mr. A. Leslie Armstrong paid a visit of inspection to the cave, and afterwards
came to see my collection. When the Abbe saw this flint among a number of
Neolithic implements, he at once singled it out, and exclaimed, "That is not Neolithic: it is
Palaeolithic." In the course of years the particulars regarding its
discovery had been forgotten; but, when it was examined, on its underside were
the date of finding and the bed from which it had been derived. On referring to
notes made at the time no doubt was possible as to its having been found in the
same bed which had produced reindeer, rhinoceros, and bear. It follows that
Palaeolithic man had wandered in the neighbourhood of Ravencliffe Cave, even if
he never voluntarily entered it.”
Thus the fire was lit for the
further excavation of the cave, the following year. Storrs Fox (1928) recounts
his new findings and corrects some errors in his previous stratigraphy:
“In the Journal (voI. xxxii,
1910, p. 143) it was stated that remains of reindeer, rhinoceros, and bear (see
picture 16) were found beneath the bed of stalagmite. But this is manifestly an
error, which was probably the result of a mistaken deduction. No doubt in the
early days of excavation the hypothesis was that beds no. 3 and 4 ran
horizontally throughout their whole course towards the terrace edge, and
therefore that bones of reindeer, etc., found within a few inches of the solid
rock must have been deposited before the stalagmite began to form. But the truth
is that the further out these beds reached the more were they exposed to
weathering, and that the stalagmite in particular became very much reduced in
depth, and finally disappeared. And here the Pleistocene bed passed beyond it
and in turn reached the rock-floor, consequently, the true position of the
first finds of reindeer, rhinoceros, and bear was above the stalagmite bed and
not below it.”
He thus revises the stratigraphy
to:
“1. Dark, vegetable soil, no
doubt to a large extent the result of leaves which in the course of centuries
had been blown into the cave. This bed varied in depth from 2 or 3 inches to 7
feet or more.
2. A thin layer of lighter brown
colour, which here and there was intermediate between nos. 1 and 3.
3. Small, angular stones closely
compacted together, and cemented by means of stalagmite into a very tough
breccia, so tough that it only yielded to pick-axe and crow-bar and
consequently bones could rarely be extracted from it without fracture. This bed
rested within the cave on solid stalagmite, and extended from the north-west
wall to the south-east, and through the entrance to within a few feet of the
outer edge of the terrace. Wherever it had been exposed to weather, it was less
hard. It is called the Pleistocene bed, and surpasses all others in importance.
4. A bed of solid stalagmite
covering the same area as no. 3. It reached a thickness of upwards of 4 feet,
but gradually petered out towards the edge of the terrace.
5. Between no. 4 and the solid
limestone floor there was a layer of sticky yellow soil, in which only
unrecognisable fragments of bones have been found up to the present
date.”
He also gives a new plan of the cave:
Note that the position of the “Spoon
shaped flint’ has changed from B to g. This inconsistency was also noted by
Sykes (2010): “There is disagreement between the two reports on the area in
which the scraper was found in the cave: the earlier report describes it as a ‘spoon-shaped’
piece, and states that it was found on the south east side of the cave, underneath
large blocks, where later prehistoric artefacts were also found, though no
information on their association with the scraper are given. The later report
identifies the scraper as Palaeolithic, not Neolithic, and gives the location
as on the north-west side of the cave. It is quite unambiguous however about
the deposit from which the scraper was excavated: the breccia with the Pleistocene
fauna.”
Here is the scraper in question
from Storrs Fox (1928):
The drawing and caption are by
Leslie Armstrong. Caption:
The Ravencliffe Implement.
A side-scraper of Mousterian type
and technique, 1 ¾ inches wide and 3 ½ inches long, in a fine chalcedonic flint, originally
of a brownish shade, but patinated a pale blue, flecked with white and
resembling " basket patina."
The edges are sharp and
un-abraded. The implement has been worked on a thermally fractured piece of
flint, or upon a flake struck from a thermally
fractured surface which is seen
on the under side of the implement. Except for very slight retouching on the
underside at the narrow end, the whole of the flaking is upon the upper face of
the scraper and consists of bold primary flaking over the whole surface of the
implement and a fine secondary re-touch around the margins, much of which is
step-flaking of typical Mousterian character. (A. Leslie Armstrong).
Whilst some modern comments on
the scraper, such as those from Historic England (2015) are indeterminate “an
isolated scraper of uncertain affinity”, other views are becoming more positive
concerning its attribution.
From DCC, Wonders of The Peak (2018): “This
flint scraper was discovered in Ravencliffe Cave in the early 1900s. The 9cm
long tool was knapped from a flake of blueish-grey flint. Archaeologists
identified the flint knapping technique as Mousterian – a style closely
associated with Neanderthals. The scraper is thought to date to around 40,000
years old, during the Middle Palaeolithic.”
Photograph of the same scraper
from DCC Wonders of the Peak (2018).
The most interesting finds apart
from the lone scraper were the faunal remains. These may well help date the scraper with some certainty. They included:
reindeer, (woolly?) rhinoceros, and cave bear. These put the date of the layer
either around 50,000BP or after the last glacial maximum ca. 16,000-11,500BP.
A modern view of the fauna
excavated from Ravencliffe cave, is given by Sykes (2017), who characterised
the fauna of the cave as “Probable Pin Hole MAZ”, in other words the
mammoth-steppe fauna of the Pin Hole mammal assemblage-zone (MAZ).
Sykes (2017) explains the recolonization
of Britain during late MIS4 and early MIS3 thus: “Following the MIS-4 glaciation,
the beginning of MIS-3 is characterised by rapid climatic amelioration with
frequent, abrupt oscillations, the formation of a mammoth-steppe ecosystem, and
the reappearance of Neanderthal occupation.”
Sykes (2010) describes the
scraper: “a single highly resharpened convergent scraper probably from a source
up to 150 km distant.” and “The local geology at Cressbrook Dale is Carboniferous
limestone (containing chert) and coal. There are some igneous tuff outcrops in
the Dale, and locally some intrusive dolerites and lavas. The flint used for
the scraper is unlikely to be locally available. The nearest outcrop source of
any flint is over 100 km, in eastern Yorkshire, although this is northern
flint, and the scraper appears to be made on southern flint (based on its translucency)
despite the inclusions, therefore the nearest southern chalk deposits are in
fact almost 170 km distant.”
Sykes (2010) comments: “The
typological assignation of the piece to the Mousterian is generally accepted
(R. Jacobi pers. comm. 2007), and is therefore the only evidence of a
Neanderthal presence in the Peak District during MIS 3. It appears that the
scraper was brought to the cave as a curated, highly resharpened tool, probably
as part of a personal toolkit designed for portability and maintainability. The
lack of any other obviously Mousterian artefacts such as more scrapers or
bifaces suggests this may have been a single visit, perhaps only involving one
or two people, although it is possible that there may have been some small
pieces of associated debitage that were missed during excavation, or simply not
recorded. This occupation, with apparently no exploitation of local stone,
suggests high mobility, as does the distant source of the flint, at least 50 km
away.”
The same scraper from Sykes
(2017). Original caption reads: “..Fig. 8. Retouched artefact variation.. D
Convergent scraper Ravencliffe Cave (southern flint).”
There can thus be very little
doubt that Neanderthals at least visited Ravencliffe Cave during long-range
hunting trips. However, it seems unlikely that due to the almost complete emptying
of the cave, the discarding of the sediments and the lack of an accurate
stratigraphic record of its deposits, a more detailed and exact chronology of
the occupation of the cave is impossible to deduce. Indeed, looking again, at the
first five pictures, it is evident that a vast volume of sediment and debris
was removed from the cave.
However, on my visit to
Ravencliffe Cave in July 2019, did nevertheless reveal some hope of dating the
flowstone floor (layer 4) just above which, the Pleistocene layer containing
the Mousterian scraper is situated.
Inspecting the back, of the central portion of
the cave revealed intact remnants of the stalagmite/flowstone floor.
Extant stalagmite floor at the
back of Ravencliffe cave. Photograph by N. Barden May 2019.
If a sample was taken and dated
via the U/Th method a date just prior to the Neanderthal occupation could be
ascertained.
References:
Beresford, M., 2011. An Analysis of Prehistoric Cave Burials
in the Magnesian Limestone region of north-east Derbyshire. MB Archaeology
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