A Middle and Late Devensian sequence from the northern part of Kents Cavern (Devon, UK)

Rob Dinnis; John Boulton; Barry Chandler; Jesse Davies; Jennifer C. French; Thomas Higham; Louisa Jáuregui; Mark Lewis; Matthias Meyer; Danielle Schreve; Chris Stringer; Chris Proctor

doi:10.1002/jqs.3705

A Middle and Late Devensian sequence from the northern part of Kents Cavern (Devon, UK)

Rob Dinnis (Korresp. Autor*in)
, John Boulton
, Barry Chandler
, Jesse Davies
, Jennifer C. French
, Thomas Higham
, Louisa Jáuregui
, Mark Lewis
, Matthias Meyer
, Danielle Schreve
, Chris Stringer
, Chris Proctor

Department für Evolutionäre Anthropologie

Veröffentlichungen: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift › Artikel › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

1920s/30s excavation of a Middle Devensian sequence in the northern part of Kents Cavern recovered important Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic archaeological material, including Britain's oldest known Homo sapiens remains. Questions remain about this material, including how it came to be in the cave. Judged by the recorded distribution of finds it may have entered via the Northeast Gallery. A previously unrecorded entrance into the cave from the Northeast Gallery was identified in 2014, and a column through the entrance's sedimentary fill was excavated during 2015–2016. The results of that work are reported here. The entrance retains an intact and well-stratified Pleistocene sequence comparable to the ‘Cave Earth’ unit described previously inside the cave. The uppermost part of the newly recognised Northeast Gallery entrance sequence has been removed by historical excavation, with most of the remaining sediments spanning the Middle Devensian and earlier part of the Late Devensian. The sequence contains bone and pollen, and ancient mammalian DNA is preserved within the sediments. The base of the Northeast Gallery entrance sequence is formed of a clayey diamict comparable to the cave's ‘Breccia’ unit, a deposit currently understood as Middle Pleistocene, and previously identified only in Kents Cavern's southern chambers. Comparison of the excavated sequence with the historical record of the Vestibule excavation shows that the basal cave earth deposits in the Northeast Gallery entrance are significantly higher than those inside the cave. Although requiring further work to confirm, this suggests that the Northeast Gallery could have played a major role in the accumulation of material in the Vestibule during the Middle Devensian.

Originalsprache	Englisch
Seiten (von - bis)	925-943
Seitenumfang	19
Fachzeitschrift	Journal of Quaternary Science
Jahrgang	40
Ausgabenummer	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3705
Publikationsstatus	Veröffentlicht - Aug. 2025

Fördermittel

We thank the Kents Cavern staff and Nick Powe for their help with this and other research at Kents Cavern. We are also extremely grateful to those who took part in the 2015-16 fieldwork, and particularly to Blake Hervé and Jonquil Mogg. Mike Bond and Bob Le Marchant are also acknowledged for their generous assistance on-site. ML would like to thank José Carrión for advice on cave palynomorphs. We are also thankful for the constructive comments of the two anonymous reviewers, which helped improve the text and figures. The radiocarbon dating work and some of the fieldwork costs were funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013); ERC grant 324139 “PalaeoChron” (awarded to TH). RD's work at Kents Cavern has been supported by the Human Origins Research Fund, and CS's research is supported by the Human Origins Research Fund and the Calleva Foundation. We also thank the Pathways to Ancient Britain project, funded by the Calleva Foundation, for a contribution to fieldwork costs. The DNA data was produced by the Ancient DNA Core Unit of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, which is funded by the Max Planck Society. Once all post-ex work is completed, the archive from the Northeast Gallery entrance excavation will be housed at Torquay Museum. We thank the Kents Cavern staff and Nick Powe for their help with this and other research at Kents Cavern. We are also extremely grateful to those who took part in the 2015‐16 fieldwork, and particularly to Blake Hervé and Jonquil Mogg. Mike Bond and Bob Le Marchant are also acknowledged for their generous assistance on‐site. ML would like to thank José Carrión for advice on cave palynomorphs. We are also thankful for the constructive comments of the two anonymous reviewers, which helped improve the text and figures. The radiocarbon dating work and some of the fieldwork costs were funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007‐2013); ERC grant 324139 “PalaeoChron” (awarded to TH). RD's work at Kents Cavern has been supported by the Human Origins Research Fund, and CS's research is supported by the Human Origins Research Fund and the Calleva Foundation. We also thank the Pathways to Ancient Britain project, funded by the Calleva Foundation, for a contribution to fieldwork costs. The DNA data was produced by the Ancient DNA Core Unit of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, which is funded by the Max Planck Society. Once all post‐ex work is completed, the archive from the Northeast Gallery entrance excavation will be housed at Torquay Museum.

ÖFOS 2012

601003 Archäologie

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abstract = "1920s/30s excavation of a Middle Devensian sequence in the northern part of Kents Cavern recovered important Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic archaeological material, including Britain's oldest known Homo sapiens remains. Questions remain about this material, including how it came to be in the cave. Judged by the recorded distribution of finds it may have entered via the Northeast Gallery. A previously unrecorded entrance into the cave from the Northeast Gallery was identified in 2014, and a column through the entrance's sedimentary fill was excavated during 2015–2016. The results of that work are reported here. The entrance retains an intact and well-stratified Pleistocene sequence comparable to the {\textquoteleft}Cave Earth{\textquoteright} unit described previously inside the cave. The uppermost part of the newly recognised Northeast Gallery entrance sequence has been removed by historical excavation, with most of the remaining sediments spanning the Middle Devensian and earlier part of the Late Devensian. The sequence contains bone and pollen, and ancient mammalian DNA is preserved within the sediments. The base of the Northeast Gallery entrance sequence is formed of a clayey diamict comparable to the cave's {\textquoteleft}Breccia{\textquoteright} unit, a deposit currently understood as Middle Pleistocene, and previously identified only in Kents Cavern's southern chambers. Comparison of the excavated sequence with the historical record of the Vestibule excavation shows that the basal cave earth deposits in the Northeast Gallery entrance are significantly higher than those inside the cave. Although requiring further work to confirm, this suggests that the Northeast Gallery could have played a major role in the accumulation of material in the Vestibule during the Middle Devensian.",

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AU - Dinnis, Rob

AU - Boulton, John

AU - Chandler, Barry

AU - Davies, Jesse

AU - French, Jennifer C.

AU - Higham, Thomas

AU - Jáuregui, Louisa

AU - Lewis, Mark

AU - Meyer, Matthias

AU - Schreve, Danielle

AU - Stringer, Chris

AU - Proctor, Chris

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N2 - 1920s/30s excavation of a Middle Devensian sequence in the northern part of Kents Cavern recovered important Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic archaeological material, including Britain's oldest known Homo sapiens remains. Questions remain about this material, including how it came to be in the cave. Judged by the recorded distribution of finds it may have entered via the Northeast Gallery. A previously unrecorded entrance into the cave from the Northeast Gallery was identified in 2014, and a column through the entrance's sedimentary fill was excavated during 2015–2016. The results of that work are reported here. The entrance retains an intact and well-stratified Pleistocene sequence comparable to the ‘Cave Earth’ unit described previously inside the cave. The uppermost part of the newly recognised Northeast Gallery entrance sequence has been removed by historical excavation, with most of the remaining sediments spanning the Middle Devensian and earlier part of the Late Devensian. The sequence contains bone and pollen, and ancient mammalian DNA is preserved within the sediments. The base of the Northeast Gallery entrance sequence is formed of a clayey diamict comparable to the cave's ‘Breccia’ unit, a deposit currently understood as Middle Pleistocene, and previously identified only in Kents Cavern's southern chambers. Comparison of the excavated sequence with the historical record of the Vestibule excavation shows that the basal cave earth deposits in the Northeast Gallery entrance are significantly higher than those inside the cave. Although requiring further work to confirm, this suggests that the Northeast Gallery could have played a major role in the accumulation of material in the Vestibule during the Middle Devensian.

AB - 1920s/30s excavation of a Middle Devensian sequence in the northern part of Kents Cavern recovered important Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic archaeological material, including Britain's oldest known Homo sapiens remains. Questions remain about this material, including how it came to be in the cave. Judged by the recorded distribution of finds it may have entered via the Northeast Gallery. A previously unrecorded entrance into the cave from the Northeast Gallery was identified in 2014, and a column through the entrance's sedimentary fill was excavated during 2015–2016. The results of that work are reported here. The entrance retains an intact and well-stratified Pleistocene sequence comparable to the ‘Cave Earth’ unit described previously inside the cave. The uppermost part of the newly recognised Northeast Gallery entrance sequence has been removed by historical excavation, with most of the remaining sediments spanning the Middle Devensian and earlier part of the Late Devensian. The sequence contains bone and pollen, and ancient mammalian DNA is preserved within the sediments. The base of the Northeast Gallery entrance sequence is formed of a clayey diamict comparable to the cave's ‘Breccia’ unit, a deposit currently understood as Middle Pleistocene, and previously identified only in Kents Cavern's southern chambers. Comparison of the excavated sequence with the historical record of the Vestibule excavation shows that the basal cave earth deposits in the Northeast Gallery entrance are significantly higher than those inside the cave. Although requiring further work to confirm, this suggests that the Northeast Gallery could have played a major role in the accumulation of material in the Vestibule during the Middle Devensian.

KW - cave sedimentology

KW - Late Pleistocene

KW - Middle Palaeolithic

KW - Upper Palaeolithic

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DO - 10.1002/jqs.3705

M3 - Article

SN - 0267-8179

VL - 40

SP - 925

EP - 943

JO - Journal of Quaternary Science

JF - Journal of Quaternary Science

IS - 6

ER -

A Middle and Late Devensian sequence from the northern part of Kents Cavern (Devon, UK)

Abstract

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ÖFOS 2012

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