The Geologist/Volume 5/On the Discovery of Human and Animal Bones in Heathery Burn Cave, Near Stanhope
ON THE DISCOVERY OF HUMAN AND ANIMAL BONES IN HEATHERY BURN CAVE, NEAR STANHOPE.
By John Elliott, Esq.
In a tolerably deep ravine, surrounded by trees and brushwood growing in wild profusion, was, until lately, a cave, in that member of the carboniferous formation locally called the "Great Limestone," and situated about one mile and a quarter north from the town of Stanhope, in the county of Durham. The limestone is now being worked for the purpose of supplying the Weardale Iron Company with a flux used in the operation of smelting their ironstone; and consequently the cave has been laid bare to the light of day.
The cave was much visited a few years ago, both by strangers and persons living in the locality, but probably few of the visitors ever studied the excavating forces by means of which the cave was hollowed out of the solid limestone, and fewer still, if any, would think that they were treading on a primeval burial-place.
Doubtless the excavation must be mainly due to aqueous agency, but a reference to Sir Charles Lyell's 'Principles of Geology,' Professor Phillips's 'Treatise on Geology,' and Richardson's 'Geology,' shows that our leading writers on this subject consider that the first cause of a cavern must have been a fracture in the limestone rock, consequent on the upheaval of the strata, and that water then finding access to the crack, would wear it out to its present dimensions.
Fig. 1.—Ground plan of cavern district.
a Mouth of Cave, b Bone Deposit, c Red Vein. d Where the water issues from the cave, e e Trees and brushwood before the quarry was worked, on hill-side; angle of slope 45 degrees.
Fractures in this case would most probably take place when the "Red Vein" was formed, which is only between two hundred and three hundred yards distant from the cave, and crosses the ravine nearly at right-angles. This vein, which contains lead-ore, iron-stone, etc., is a wide one, requiring a wide fissure, and the force necessary to produce such a fissure would be sufficient to cause rents and small dislocations in the rocks at considerable distances. Besides this there are two other veins crossing the ravine at lesser distances from the cave, and these would still further increase the probability of an original fissure.
Fig. 2.—Transverse section of cave.
a Level of the Burn. b Level of cave (from a to b 10 feet). c Osseous remains in the cave, (from b to c yards). d cave without remains, (from base of d to ground-line f 7 ft), e Limestone.
The cave must be very old if we suppose it to have been formed by the water running down the ravine when on a level with its mouth or opening, seeing that the watercourse is now worn down ten or twelve feet below the cave's bottom. Again, if we suppose it to have been excavated by the attrition of the waves of the sea during some remote period, when the waters of the ocean stood on a level with the cave, it must still have a very ancieut Origin, for the Cave is situated upwards of thirty miles from the Sea, and Upwards of eight hundred feet above its present level. This locality must have been submerged during the glacial period, as we have evidence of by the deposits of boulder clay; and if the sea on receding should have remained on a level with the limestone for a great length of time, the result would have been the wearing down of the rock, or the hollowing out of crevices and caves in the exposed strata.
In a certain place of the cave-flooring, the workmen recently came upon a large sheet of stalagmite of varying thickness, but averaging about four inches. This calcareous incrustation has been formed by the ceaseless dropping of water holding lime in solution, from the roof of the cave. On removing this crust and a small portion of fine sand and silt, the workmen exhumed a human skull and a quantity of bones, some undoubtedly human, and others belonging to the lower animals. The human skull according to its phrenological development, seems to indicate a low intellectual capacity, the forehead being low, and the circumference under the average standard. There is also a fragment of a skull which seems to have belonged to a tolerably large animal, as it measures three and a quarter inches from the medial line to the outside beside the ear, giving a breadth of six and a half inches for the whole skull; then if the integuments, hair, etc. be added, we should have a physiognomy little short of nine inches wide, and this creature may have been that of one of the principal tenants of the cave, and which probably devoured the others. Inter-mixed with the remains are very small pieces of bone, etc., partially cemented together by calcareous matter, and occurring in patches at different places; these have the appearance of coprolites. The bones are nearly all fragmentary, and much broken; the fractures being of an ancient date, thereby showing that the remains had been subject to violence and fracture before they were imbedded in their calcareous tomb.
[6 or 7 feet wide.]
Fig. 3.—Section of cave.
a Angular piece of Limestone, Sand, etc Stalagmite, c Osseous remains, Sand, Silt, etc. d Stalagmite, e Open cave. f Limestone.
How long these remains have lain in the cave? by what means they have been carried and entombed there? whether the animal-remains belong to existing or to extinct species? and how the fractured bones are to be accounted for? are all very interesting palæontological problems.
The cave has in all probability been occasionally inhabited by wolves, foxes, etc., which would sally forth, seize their prey, and return to devour it, leaving the bones to be covered over by the stalagmite as we find them; the coprolites before mentioned seem to point to this conclusion. There seems to be not so much mystery about the animal bones being found there; but the case is quite different as regards the human. There is always something strange and startling in such occurrences, when human remains are found otherwise than reposing in the silent and hallowed precincts of a regular burying-place.
During the interment of these relics of some of the perhaps earliest members of our race, the rippling of running water on the cavern floor, the monotonous drippings from the roof, the growling perhaps of wolves, or the barking of foxes, and the bellowing of the wind through the gloomy chambers of the cavern, would form the only requiem.
It ought, in conclusion, to be observed, that the remains are deposited in a certain wing or chamber of the cave, about two feet above the floor where the water runs, so that they would lie dry, with the exception of the calcareous droppings from the roof, or in the case of the cavern water being swollen above the capacity of the lower channel to contain it.
Although a considerable portion of the cave has been destroyed by the quarrying operations, which are still going on, there remains yet a much larger extent undisturbed, so that more remains will most likely be discovered.
Dec. 17th, 1861.
[These bones, with specimens of the stalagmite, etc., have been transmitted to us and will receive careful study and consideration. We shall shortly give a concise and accurate account of them.—Ed. Geol., 22 Dec. 1861.]