The Discovery of Human Remains under the Stalagmite-Floor of Gough's Cavern, Cheddar

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Abstract
Gough's Cavern is an extensive and much-branching subterranean waterway, which opens at the base of the cliffs on the south side of a picturesque gorge in the Carboniferous Limestone of the Mendips,near the village of Cheddar. For many years the proprietor,Mr. R. C. Gough, has worked the cavern, clearing out without much method the accumulation of ages, in order to make a comfortable and easy access for visitors to the principal chambers; and quite recently the grandeur of the vaulting and the beautiful stalactites in the more inaccessible parts have been revealed by the introduction of the electric light. In carrying out these necessary improvements, beds of stalagmite and cave-earth, blocks of limestone, pebbles and sand have been removed from the entrance and passages ; and the bones and teeth of extinct and existing animals, with human relics (prehistoric and historic) have been brought to light, and are now to be found crowded together in a small museum near the entrance. The objects prove that the caves were the alternate resort of extinct animals and man. The cases contain jawbones and teeth of the cave-hyaena, cave-bear, cave-lion, woolly rhinoceros, boar, horse, deer, Irish elk, etc., which have at various times been taken out of the cave-earth during the excavations ; but they were never found in large numbers, while flint-flakes, knives, scrapers, borers, and chips were plentiful, and bone and horn-borers, needles, and pins were some-times met with. From the takus at the base of the cliffs, which rose high

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