Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/81

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GEOLOGY The Alluvium which is found forming level stretches bordering the rivers is the newest geological deposit, and in many places is still being added to. It gives rise to some of the richest meadow-land in the county. Occa- sionally horns of red deer and of Bos primigenius are found in it. Traces of Prehistoric Man require notice in this essay. In the Carbo- niferous Limestone of the Great Doward are several caves. The principal ones are two in number — King Arthur's Cave or Hall, and the Bannerman Cave. The first was very thoroughly investigated by Symonds,^"^ and yields to none in interest. Evidence of man in the form of flint flakes was found beneath deposits of stalagmite and cave-earth many feet in thickness. In descending order there was cut through (i) black soil with fragments of pottery ; (2) cave-earth with flint implements, worked pebbles, and the teeth and jaws of the bear and horse ; (3) stalagmite ; (4) red sand and pebbles of greenstone and ' Lower Silurian ' rock ; (5) stalagmite ; and (6) cave-earth, in which there was a large number of bones, teeth, and jaws, belonging to rhinoceros, horse, reindeer, elk, bison, cave lion, hyena, and mammoth. The flint flakes occurred chiefly in the upper portion of this basal cave-earth. In the Ban- nerman Cave, some 50 ft. higher up the hill-side, a perfect lower jaw of a beaver has been found. Flint flakes have also been collected in the neighbour- hood of Ledbury .^"^ ™ Records of the Rocks (1872), pp. 350-3 ; Geoi. Mag. 1871 ; Trans. Woolhope Nat. F. C. 1871, p. 21 ; ibid. 1874 (1880), pp. 17-24 ; ibid. 1884 (1890), pp. 217-18 ; F/ora of Herefordshire, p. vi. "" H. C. Moore, T:rans. Woolhope Nat. F. C. 1894, pp. 191-3. 33