Soldier's Hole, Cheddar Gorge
List Entry Summary
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Name: Soldier's Hole, Cheddar Gorge
List entry Number: 1011914
Location
The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Somerset
District: Sedgemoor
District Type: District Authority
Parish: Cheddar
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.
Date first scheduled: 19-Mar-1991
Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.
Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System: RSM
UID: 13204
Asset Groupings
This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.
List entry Description
Summary of Monument
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Reasons for Designation
Palaeolithic caves and rockshelters provide some of the earliest evidence of human activity in the period from about 400,000 to 10,000 years ago. The sites, all natural topographic features, occur mainly in hard limestone in the North and West of the country, although examples also exist in the softer rocks of South-East England. Evidence for human occupation is often located near the cave entrances, close to the rock walls or on the exterior platforms. The interiors sometimes served as special areas for disposal and storage or were places where material naturally accumulated from the outside. Because of the special conditions of deposition and preservation, organic and other fragile materials often survive well and in stratigraphic association. As such caves and rock shelters are of major importance for understanding this period. Due to their comparative rarity, their considerable age and their longevity as a monument type, all examples with good survival of deposits, are considered to be nationally important. The twenty-one sites in Somerset form the densest and one of the most important concentrations of monuments of this type in the country. The Soldier's Hole example is regarded as significant for producing not only Later Upper Palaeolithic artefacts, but also artefacts of the Earlier Upper palaeolithic, including associated faunal material.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Details
Soldier's Hole is a shallow, wide entranced cave situated on the south
side of the gorge, 40m up from the road and 65m below the plateau. The
entrance and side-tunnel contain spoil left over from excavations
carried out by R. F. Parry (1925-29). The cave has produced Neolithic,
Bronze Age and Romano-British material, but its main significance lies
in the Upper Palaeolithic remains. Seven stone artefacts and an ivory
awl from the Earlier Upper Palaeolithic were found during the original
excavations, and thirteen flint artefacts of the Later Upper
Palaeolithic, implying two distinct occupation horizons. In addition,
Pleistocene faunal remains, radiocarbon dated from more than 35,000
years ago to c.10,000 years ago have been recovered. It is doubtful
whether the areas under the spoil were ever fully excavated, and it is
anticipated that these and other pockets of undisturbed deposits still
remain in situ.
The monument includes all deposits within the interior of the cave and
outside the cave entrance as far as the steep break of slope down into
the gorge.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
Selected Sources
Books and journals
Jackson, J W, The Vertebrate and Molluscan Fauna of Soldier's Hole, (1931)
Bramwell, D, 'at Soldier's Hole, Cheddar' in Report On A Collection Of Bird Bones From The 1929 Excavations, , Vol. 104, (1960)
Gowlett, J, Hedges, R, Law, I, Perry, C, 'Archaeometry' in Radiocarbon Dates From The Oxford AMS System: Archaeometry List 4, , Vol. 28, (1986)
Other
Campbell, JB, Hypothetical section of the Soldier's Hole deposits, based upon Parry's description and the author's observations,
Pagination 508-24, Ambers, J and Matthews, K and Burleigh, R, British Museum Natural Radiocarbon Measurements 18, (1985)
Parry, R F, Excavations at Cheddar, (1931)
National Grid Reference: ST 46862 54008
Map
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This copy shows the entry on 27-Apr-2018 at 07:57:45.
End of official listing