Caving isn't just about wriggling through holes underground. Experienced cavers also dig out caves that have become silted up. This very dangerous activity caused the Pegasus Caving Club to contact their county coroner following the discovery of ancient human and animal remains in a cave at Carsington, in Derbyshire. They also contacted their local archaeologist, Dave Barrett, who put the cavers in touch with Andrew Chamberlain from Sheffield University. The next step was to involve Time Team.

Time Team wasn't just interested in the cave. The nearby landscape also held a few interesting features, namely ancient field boundaries and a possible prehistoric burial mound. As the excavations split between barrow digging on the surface and cave digging underground, the story of the area started to come together.

With the barrow identified as Bronze Age in date, complete with an outstanding full cremation urn, evidence from the cave covered both Neolithic and Roman inhumations. This particular area of Carsington had obviously been an important place in which to inter the dead for thousands of years.

Another interesting point about the Carsington excavations is that of more than 20 individuals discovered across the two areas of digging, the majority of the remains belonged to children.

'This is most extraordinary to have such a high percentage,' says Mick Aston, 'This may just be because we have only found the preserved bones, and they happened to be children's bones because the environment here is slightly unusual so they survived in the ground. This is certainly an unusual place.'

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