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19 January 2003
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.'
How the cave was found
An unknown tomb
The discovery of the Carsington cave came about in 1998, when the Pegasus Caving Club from Nottingham was on a weekend exploration trip to a little-known cave in Derbyshire. Though the entrance and associated first chamber were known, the club members had a good idea that much of the cave had yet to be discovered. They understood that the compacted rubble floor could easily have hidden further crawlspaces to other chambers. Little did they know they were about to discover a subterranean tomb some 2,000 years old.
The discovery of 'Yoric Chamber'
'We originally came to look at a cave on the other side of the ridge,' says caver Tony Bennett. 'Then we saw the entrance to this one and thought we would have a look at it.' The original five-man crew consisted of Tony, Alan Stean, Andrew Walchester, Malcolm Scothon and Dave Walker. 'We thought by the looks of the cave floor that it would be easy to extend and so over the next few weekends we came back and started to dig away. After a while we came through to "Yoric Chamber".'
Malcolm Scothon takes up the story: 'From the entrance chamber we saw the possibilities for downward progression. We followed what we thought was a natural progression and came to a gravel layer. Andrew knocked a keystone away and actually fell through into a chamber. He had a rummage around and then came out very quickly! He was quite shaken, which gave us a good excuse to go to the pub to discuss his experience. He had come face to face with the skull of a goat with horns and another skull with a stalagmite growing out of it. Myself and Tony went back the next day with cameras and it was then that we realised what we had come across.'
Full excavation begins
After their find the team notified the coroner, police and the county archaeologist before continuing with their exploration. The ensuing excavations were painstaking. 'It was very hard digging,' says Alan, 'first because of the clay in-fill and then the conditions of work. We were digging down a slope, so we had to shore up the sides as we went. Of course after you get to a certain depth the scaffolding isn't resting on anything so you have to shore the sides up again. You basically have to dig and place the spoil behind you each time. With the small number of us doing the dig it just wasn't possible to get the spoil out of the cave. We got to about 80 feet (24 metres) deep, but we still had a solid wall of clay to dig through, so we were nowhere near the end. You just do little bits at a time and eventually you get there.'
Not an average hole in the ground
The cave is obviously quite different from an average hole in the ground so what did the Pegasus club members think of it? 'The cave is very different,' continues Alan. 'Apart from the fact that it's full of remains, lots of the rubble down there is a different stone from the cave itself. It's also not like the miners' spoil from the nearby shafts in the pasture, so there is a theory that the chambers may well have been deliberately sealed at some time to shut them off as a burial chamber. It is just a theory, but you never know.'
The cavers have found it extremely useful having Time Team involved. 'I think we have shifted more stuff in the last three days than the five of us could have done in six months,' says Alan. 'Yes,' agrees Malcolm, 'It's also been good to have so many different experts involved who have seen the potential in different areas that we have yet to explore. We've also had quite a lot of freedom to work within the programme and everyone has got on really well. It's certainly been an experience.'
What happens next?
'We need to make sure that the site is properly protected,' says Malcolm. 'There's obviously going to be some form of scheduling to protect the archaeology, but hopefully the research and exploration can continue. The Pegasus Caving Club is very responsible with over 50 years of caving experience. Hopefully we can protect the site and maybe even become trustees of the cave. We've had great support from the landowners and local authorities so the working relationship is good. It's a fantastic cave down there so we all hope that it can still be enjoyed in a responsible way.'
Phil stays above ground
Four hundred metres away from the cave entrance, a burial mound was excavated by Phil Harding and his crew of regular Time Team and volunteer local diggers. The barrow was fairly flat in profile and constructed of clay, capped with turfs. Additional soil was then added on top. Antiquarian-style 'through the centre' excavations had been attempted in the past by unknown excavators, but this didn't ruin the archaeology for Phil.
Evidence of child burial was discovered in the top and then to one side a fantastic Bronze-Age burial urn was discovered containing the crushed bone of one or more individuals. 'This cremation was put in the ground in an inverted urn,' says Phil. 'That's quite common in the Bronze Age, but it is difficult to excavate. You need to be very careful removing the fragments of pot caused by the collapse of the bottom of the vessel. It's very exciting and hopefully a bones expert will be able to tell a lot from the cremated bone we have found.'
Further reading
Digging up Bones by D R Brothwell (Cornell University Press, 1981) £23.95 ISBN: 0801498759
The archaeologist's standard text on the subject.
The Archaeology of Human Bones by Simon Mays (Routledge, 1998) £22.95 ISBN: 0415174074
A newer introduction to the subject.
Human Bones in Archaeology by Ann Stirland (Shire Publications, 1999) £4.99 ISBN: 0747804125
Useful beginner's guide, as always in the Shire series.
Human Remains by Andrew Chamberlain (British Museum Press, 1994) £4.95 ISBN: 0714120928
In this introduction, the author explains how modern methods of forensic archaeology can reveal the age, sex, stature and ancestry of human remains, and investigates the evidence of injury and infection on bones and teeth. The use of DNA fingerprinting in the study of human remains is also explored in detail.
The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death by Timothy Taylor (Fourth Estate, 2002) £20 ISBN: 1857026969
Ê
Timothy Taylor, of Bradford University, was one of the experts used in the Channel 4 series Cannibal because his book, The Buried Soul, deals, in part, with cannibalism. He has previously worked with the National Geographic on programmes about headhunting, cannibalism, and human sacrifice.
Cannibalism: From Sacrifice to Survival by Hans Askenasy (Prometheus Books, 1994) £22 ISBN: 0879759062
Examines the long history of cannibalism.
The Anthropology of Cannibalism by L R Goldman (Bergin & Garvey, 1999) hardback £54.95/paperback £16.95 ISBN: 0897895967/ 0897895975
Cannibalism exists in folklore traditions as the definition of the antithesis of socially accepted morality, as well as something that in practice was a conduit for the regeneration and reproduction of positive values. This book looks at how and why cannibalism was actually practised across cultures.
Studies in Crime: An Introduction to Forensic Archaeology by John Hunter, Charlotte Roberts and Anthony Martin (Batsford, 2nd edition 1995) £26 ISBN: 0415166128
The study of forensic archaeology is a new discipline which has rapidly gained importance, not only in archaeological studies but also in the study of contemporary crime. This book, written by members of the archaeology department at Bradford University, includes discussion of the methods of searching for and locating buried remains, the decay of buried human remains and their associated materials, and the analysis and identification of remains including the use of DNA testing, and dating time of death. A concluding chapter examines 'archaeological science as forensic science'.
Other websites
This website contains links to other websites which are not under the control of and are not maintained by Channel 4 Television. Channel 4 Television is not responsible for the content of these sites and does not necessarily endorse the material on them.
Forensic Archaeology
http://archaeology.about.com/cs/forensic/
Forensic archaeology is about applying archaeological methods to the investigation of crime. The methods used by archaeologists in excavating human remains from the distant past are now widely recognised and adopted by law enforcement officers (including human rights investigators) investigating more recent murders and other crimes. The Forensic Archaeology website offers some of the best all-round information on forensic archaeology on the web, with detailed information on bone pathology, taphonomy, geophysics, odontology and environmental archaeology. Promised soon are pages on university courses and the law. Also contains an excellent set of links to related websites.
Spoilheap
www.spoilheap.co.uk/hsr.htm
The Spoilheap website contains well-presented information about burial archaeology and human bones. Why excavate human bones? What can we learn from studying them? These and other questions are answered, along with introductions to palaeopathology and different techniques of ageing, sexing and otherwise analysing bones. The section on burial archaeology deals with burial practices by period, the legal aspects of burial archaeology, archaeological techniques, and interpretation and conclusions. Good bibliographies are also provided.
Capra, the Journal for Cave Archaeology and Palaeontology
www.shef.ac.uk/~capra/
As well as the journal articles and other resources, Capra's online gazetteers of hominid-bearing caves in England, Scotland and Wales contain summaries of information about caves, fissures and rock shelters that have contained human remains of possible or proven prehistoric date. The gazetteers are organised into regions with bibliographies of all published information supplied for each cave.
The Capra website includes an article by Jodie Lewis, of the University of Bristol, 'Upwards at 45 degrees: the use of vertical caves during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age on Mendip, Somerset' (Capra 2, available at www.shef.ac.uk/~capra/2/upwards.html). The Mendip Hills in Somerset contain geological features known locally as swallets, vertical 'shafts' in the limestone, usually formed by dissolutional activity. In recent years, excavations by cavers have revealed a range of archaeological material placed inside them. The materials are generally of prehistoric date, and seem to indicate a climax of deposition in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. Using the evidence from two sites, Charterhouse Warren Farm Swallet and Brimble Pit Swallet, it is argued that swallets were being used for deliberate ritual deposition during these periods. A link between swallets and monuments is also made, both in terms of the material placed within them and their relationship in the landscape.