The bone caves of the Plymouth district / by R.N. Worth.

  • Richard Nicholls Worth
Date:
[1879]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The bone caves of the Plymouth district / by R.N. Worth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    face of 70 feet, and 3 feet above the bottom of the cavern, which was wholly filled with clay. It was the opinion of Mr. Whidbey and of the workmen that the cavern was entirely enclosed in the solid rock. Many caverns had previously been met with, but this was the first which had contained bones. It was 15 feet wide, 45 feet long, taking the direction into the cliff, and 12 feet deep. The bones were 6 molars, and parts of 2 vertebrae, 1 radius, 1 scapula, 2 ulnae, 3 humeri, 3 femurs, 2 phalanges, 1 carpus, and 1 metacarpus.* Four years later another bone cave was discovered, and the con- tents forwarded by Mr. Whidbey, as in the former instance, to the Royal Society. These bones Mr. Whidbey, writing on the 11th November, 1820, to SirEverard Home,t stated had then been “lately found in a cavern 1 foot high, 18 feet wide, and 20 feet long, lying on a thin bed of dry clay at the bottom.” Sir Everard described them as consisting of one molar of rhinoceros—single-horned; teeth and bones of the black or brown bear,^ two portions of bone of an animal of the deer kind, and portions of bone of some animal the size of a bear. The cervine remains were found in a cavity near to but distinct from that containing the remainder. This cavern also Mr. Whidbey described as entirely surrounded by compact rock. It was about 8 feet above high-water mark, 55 below the surface, and 174 yards from the original face of the cliff, the quarries having been worked inwards about 120 yards in that direction from the cavern of 1816. So far the quantity of bones discovered had been small, though their importance was great. The next find was of much larger magnitude. Continuing to work into the hill, at a distance of 201 yards from the commencement of the quarry, and 180 yards in a western direction from the cave of 1816, the first of five other caves or chambers was discovered, communicating by passages and associated with galleries. The top of the cliff here was 93 feet above high-water springs; and while the bottom of the lower cave was about 30 feet above high-water, the roof of the * Sir E. Home, op. cit. Cited “ Devon. Assoc. Trans.,” vol. v. part i. p. 250. t “Phil. Trans.,” 1821, parti, pp. 133-5. Cited “Devon. Assoc. Trans., vol. v. part i. pp 251-2. X Professor Owen afterwards identified the ursine remains as those of both TJrsus spelneus and prisons. Vide “ Brit. Foss. Mam.,” pp. 84-5.
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