Reasons for Designation
Palaeolithic caves and rock shelters 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. Caves
and rock shelters are therefore 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.
Despite some loss to quarrying and partial excavation of the cave earth,
Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave, which includes a number of associated fissures,
will preserve intact deposits of Late Glacial (Upper Palaeolithic) origin,
which have been shown by excavation to be extremely rich in contemporary
remains. The limestone outcrops in the Plymouth area have been almost
entirely quarried out and this monument provides one of the few remaining
examples where such remains will survive.
Details
The monument includes the surviving remains of Worth's Cattedown Bone Cave, a
cave of two similar sized chambers joined by a narrow fissure and with
numerous further fissures which extended to the former ground surface above,
and to sea level. It lies within a more extensive limestone bluff which has
undergone weathering to produce the characteristic fissures and rock
formations. The monument overlooks Cattewater, at the mouth of the River Plym
on the eastern side of Plymouth Sound, and the cave lies within the face and
former floor of the quarry.
The quarry floor survives as an isolated rock shelf at the base of the quarry
face, part of which has been removed for a railway tunnel and part of which
lies beneath some raised consolidation material. Archaeological investigation
in the late 19th century, following a reworking of the quarry floor in 1886,
included the partial excavation of the main chambers, and a study of bones
from the excavated cave earth established the presence within the cave of
human and faunal remains which are considered to date from before the end of
the last Ice Age.
The chambers were partly truncated and exposed by quarrying but most of their
cave deposits were intact beneath their quarried roof. Not all of the chamber
or fissure deposits were fully excavated nor their depth ascertained, but
cave earth was recorded to a maximum depth of over 8m below the quarry floor
in the larger northern chamber. Although bone remains were found in the
majority of deposits throughout the cave, the northern chamber had the more
complex sequence with a stalagmite floor 0.5m thick sealing a stalagmitic
breccia containing articulated skeletons; this in turn sealed concreted
bone-bearing cave earth in which the bones were more dispersed. The remains
of at least 15 individual hominids of both sexes, including children and
adults, were recovered from both of the main levels of cave deposit in direct
association with the bones of 33 different faunal species, including cave
lion, rhinoceros, wolf and hyena. The faunal remains have been classified as
being characteristic of the Devensian (last glacial) period (60,000-10,000BP
- i.e. years before present); that is within the middle to later Upper
Palaeolithic era in Britain, with a closer date of 14,000BP or earlier being
considered more probable for the group as a whole. Evidence for the use of
tools was provided by a single flint core or hammer stone from which flakes
had been struck, which was recovered from the cave earth. Charcoal fragments
encased in stalagmite attested to the presence of fire deep within the cave.
The quarry floor containing the cave site was left unworked during the 19th
century excavations whilst quarrying continued around it and this quarrying
evidently did not continue once the cave investigations were complete. The
results of the excavations were published in 1887 and the cave later became
known as Worth's Bone Cave, after the principle excavator, R N Worth. Over
the course of the decades following excavation, the quarry floor, which
remained isolated on a rock shelf several metres above the surrounding ground
surface, became covered in stone tumble, scree, vegetation, and part
artificial consolidation, which served to seal the cave. Its precise location
was lost until a survey by the Devon Karst Research Society in 1980 once
again determined its position and recorded one of the chamber walls and much
of the assemblage from the cave, although damaged by bombing in World War II,
and the flint core are retained by Plymouth City Museum.
The railway tunnel which passes through the monument from south west to north
east is not included in the scheduling, although the ground above the tunnel
is included.
All fencing and the stone-built triangulation point on the top of the quarry
face are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these
features is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
