| Description | (Two) monthly report of the superintendents of excavation. Both Pengelly and Vivian were from home from the end of April to the middle of May, therefore they decided not to send a report for April. Instead, this report will present an account of the work for two months.
They are still occupied with the narrow passage in the Long Arcade. In some places, the floor is the ordinary granular laminated stalagmite, but in other areas there are portions of an older floor. Other deposits discovered have been: cave-earth, from one to two feet deep; and the Rock-like Breccia, found in areas of the Cavern such as the South-West Chamber, and the Water Gallery. Animal remains found include: a small number of bones; teeth of fox, badger, hyena, rhinoceros, sheep, and bear. They also found 600 bones of small animals, likely rodents, and three flint implements.
Reference is made to 'the Fifth Report presented to the British Association' back in 1869, specifically pages 201-202. [Note. this report referenced is 'Fifth Report of the Committee for Exploring Kent's Cavern, Devonshire', which was featured in 'Report of the Thirty-Ninth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; held at Exeter in August 1869'. It is not referring to the fifth report of this collection.] The reference is made toward the discovery of a flint flake found in the Water Gallery's breccia deposit, as described in the forty-fourth report of progress [MS/222/49], and is refereed to in the 'the Fifth Report' alongside a letter received from Mr John Evans, as described in the forty-seventh report of progress [MS/222/52]. [Emphasis is placed on the flint flake, found in the old Breccia, being of human agency in both reports of progress.] It is reported two further flint flakes have now been found in the old Breccia deposit. The first of them, No. 5900, was found 22 May [1872]: it is five inches in length, three inches in width, and 1.5 inches thick. The second specimen, No. 5903, was found 27 May [1872] at a depth of one foot deep in the breccia.
On 11 April, they found 'a heap of small stalagmitic [bodies], which may be likened to rather large [?], ill-shapen marbles such as boys play with. There were 780 of them, and with them lay two broken hazel-nut shells and a fragment of bone. A second but smaller heap was found in a similar situation' on 17 May, which 'contained 108 "marbles", and there was a portion of jaw lying with them'. In an area close to the narrow passage entrance, they found: small pieces of stalagmitic matter; small pieces of charcoal; small pieces of [pottery]; and specimens believed to be from a human skeleton, including: 'two lower "wisdom" teeth', 'a few entire phalangeal bones, obviously of an individual barely mature', parts of a pelvis, parts of a vertebrae, parts of ribs, and numerous fragments of bone. The human teeth were submitted to Mr Charles [Arthur] Rodway, 'a distinguished dentist of this place' for inspection, who confirmed the following on 11 June 1872: the two teeth 'are right and left inferior "dentes sapientiae" [wisdom teeth] of a human being'. Through the teeth, Rodway estimated the age of the human to be between 15 and 20 years old, and supposed they had 'already erupted from the gum'. Rodway would not assume if the teeth belonged to a male or female, but believed they were from the same person. |