Kents Cavern

The caverns and passages were formed in the early Pleistocene period in Devonian limestoneKents Cavern: A field guide to the natural history. Joyce Lundberg and Donald McFarlane. 2008. William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust. {{ISBN|978-0-9559514-0-4}} by water action and have been occupied by one of at least eight separate, discontinuous native populations to have inhabited the British Isles.{{cite web|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/ahob/AHOBI/index_2.html |title=Human Occupation of the British Isles Project |publisher=Nhm.ac.uk |access-date=3 November 2011}} The other key paleolithic sites in the UK are Happisburgh, Pakefield, Boxgrove, Swanscombe, Pontnewydd, Paviland, Creswell Crags and Gough's Cave.

Mousterian stone tools found in the cavern during excavations in the 19th century indicate that the cave was occupied by Neanderthals during the late Middle Paleolithic (likely sometime roughly around 60-40,000 years ago). Most of these artifacts are are now lost, though 45 remain, including "five bifaces, nine scrapers, possible awls/borers, and a variety of debitage including two Levallois flakes", which are either made of flint or greensand-derived chert. Given the partial and incomplete current state of the finds, it is difficult to provide conclusive answers about how Neanderthals used the cave, though from what remains "there is little evidence of on-site manufacture, and the whole appears to be a collection of artefacts taken to the cave during a number of relatively brief visits".White, M., & Pettitt, P. (2011). [https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/152474/7/9014.pdf The British Late Middle Palaeolithic: An Interpretative Synthesis of Neanderthal Occupation at the Northwestern Edge of the Pleistocene World]. Journal of World Prehistory, 24(1), 25-97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-011-9043-9

{{main|Kents Cavern 4 maxilla}}

A prehistoric upper jawbone (maxilla) fragment was discovered in the cavern during a 1927 excavation by the Torquay Natural History Society and named Kents Cavern 4. The specimen is on display at the Torquay Museum.{{cite web| url=http://www.kents-cavern.co.uk/jawbone | title=Jawbone | website = Kents Cavern| access-date = 17 December 2016}}{{cite web| url=http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/early_modern/europe/kents_cavern_short_article_2006.html |title=Kent's Cavern report on the way? | john hawks weblog |publisher=Johnhawks.net |date=25 December 2006 |access-date=3 November 2011}}

In 1989, the fragment was radiocarbon dated to 36,400–34,700 years BP, but a 2011 study that dated fossils from neighbouring strata produced an estimate of 44,200–41,500 years BP. The same study analysed the dental structure of the fragment and determined it to be Homo sapiens rather than Homo neanderthalensis, which would have made it the earliest anatomically modern human fossil yet discovered in northwestern Europe.{{cite journal

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| title = The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe

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• {{cite news |author=Jonathan Amos |date=2 November 2011 |title=Teeth and jaw are from 'earliest Europeans' |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15540464}} In a response to this paper in 2012, the authors Mark White and Paul Pettitt wrote, "We urge caution over using a small selected sample of fauna

from an old and poorly executed excavation in Kent's Cavern to provide a radiocarbon stratigraphy and age for a human fossil that cannot be dated directly, and we suggest that the recent dating should be rejected."{{cite journal|last1=White|first1=Mark|last2=Pettitt|first2=Paul|title=Ancient Digs and Modern Myths: The Age and Context of the Kent's Cavern 4 Maxilla and the Earliest Homo sapiens Specimens in Europe|journal=European Journal of Archaeology|date=2012|volume=15|issue=3|pages=392–420|doi=10.1179/1461957112Y.0000000019|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272249221|access-date=2 August 2016}} A 2017 paper by some of the same authors of the 2011 study rebutted the concerns presented and again supported the 44,200–41,500 BP date.{{Cite journal |last=Proctor |first=Chris |last2=Douka |first2=Katerina |last3=Proctor |first3=Janet W. |last4=Higham |first4=Tom |date=2017-01-26 |title=The Age and Context of the KC4 Maxilla, Kent's Cavern, UK |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/eaa.2016.1 |journal=European Journal of Archaeology |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=74–97 |doi=10.1017/eaa.2016.1 |issn=1461-9571}}

The cave was where the holotype canine teeth of the sabertooth cat Homotherium latidens were collected by John MacEnery in 1826, and formally described by Richard Owen in 1846. Later in the 19th century incisor teeth were also found in the cave. Kent's Cavern is one of only a handful of sites in Britain where Homotherium remains have been found.{{Cite journal |last=Barnett |first=Ross |date=January 2014 |title=An inventory of British remains of Homotherium (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae), with special reference to the material from Kent's Cavern |journal=Geobios |volume=47 |issue=1–2 |pages=19–29 |bibcode=2014Geobi..47...19B |doi=10.1016/j.geobios.2013.12.004}} Isotopic analysis of the canine teeth of H. latidens found in Kent's Cavern indicates that they are isotopically distinct from other animal remains found in the cave. This, along with the absence of any other Homotherium remains in the cave, has led authors to suggest that the teeth were deliberately transported into the cave by humans during the Palaeolithic from further afield (possibly from mainland Europe), perhaps as a kind of trade good. The teeth are suggested to have experienced considerable weathering prior to being taken into Kent's Cavern,{{Cite journal |last1=McFarlane |first1=Donald A. |last2=Lundberg |first2=Joyce |date=April 2013 |title=On the occurrence of the scimitar-toothed cat, Homotherium latidens (Carnivora; Felidae), at Kents Cavern, England |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=1629–1635 |bibcode=2013JArSc..40.1629M |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2012.10.032}} and it is unclear whether these teeth were taken from the remains of then-relatively recently dead Homotherium or subfossil remains of long-dead Homotherium individuals.

During the Middle Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 11, ~400,000 years ago) the caves were used as a hibernation den by cave bears, resulting in a considerable number of their remains being excavated from the cave.{{Cite journal |last=Lundberg |first=Joyce |last2=McFarlane |first2=Donald A. |date=2007 |title=Pleistocene depositional history in a periglacial terrane: A 500 k.y. record from Kents Cavern, Devon, United Kingdom |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geosphere/article/3/4/199-219/31156 |journal=Geosphere |language=en |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=199 |doi=10.1130/GES00085.1 |issn=1553-040X}}

During the Last Glacial Period (sometime between 90-25,000 years ago), the cave served as a den site for cave hyenas. Layers assigned to this time period are termed "Cave Earth". Remains of animals found in these layers include wild horse, juvenile woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, steppe bison, reindeer and red deer,AM Lister, [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264785262 Age profile of mammoths in a late Pleistocene hyaena den at Kent’s Cavern, Devon, England]. Proceedings of the International Conference on Mammoth Site Studies, Publications in Anthropology 22, ed West D (University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS), pp 35–43. (2001). with these layers also containing the remains of wolves.

Kents Cavern is first recorded as Kents Hole Close on a 1659 deed when the land was leased to John Black.John R. Pike, Torquay (Torquay: Torbay Borough Council Printing Services, 1994), 5 The earliest evidence of exploration of the caves in historic times is two inscriptions, "William Petre 1571" and "Robert Hedges 1688" engraved on stalagmites. The first recorded excavation was that of Thomas Northmore in 1824. Northmore's work attracted the attention of William Buckland, the first Reader in Geology at the University of Oxford, who sent a party including John MacEnery to explore the caves in an attempt to find evidence that Mithras was once worshipped in the area.Percy Russell, A History of Torquay (Torquay: Devonshire Press Limited, 1960), 107 MacEnery, the Roman Catholic chaplain at Torre Abbey, conducted systematic excavations between 1824 and 1829. When MacEnery reported to the British Association the discovery of flint tools below the stalagmites on the cave floor, his work was derided as contrary to Bishop James Ussher's Biblical chronology dating the Creation to 4004 BC.Russell, 108

In September 1845, the recently created Torquay Natural History Society requested permission from Sir Lawrence Palk to explore the caves to obtain fossils and artefacts for the planned Torquay Museum, and as a result, Edward Vivian and William Pengelly were allowed to conduct excavations between 1846 and 1858. Vivian reported to the Geological Society in 1847, but at the time, it was generally believed that early humans had entered the caves long after the formation of the cave structures examined.Russell, 109 This changed when, in the Autumn of 1859, following the work of Pengelly at the Brixham Cavern and of Jacques de Perthes in France, the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries, and the British Association agreed that the excavations had established the antiquity of humanity.

File:British Pleistocene Mammalia (1866) Wolf Cranium.png

In 1865, the British Association created a committee, led by Pengelly, to fully explore the cave system over the course of fifteen years. It was Pengelly's party that discovered Robert Hedges' stalagmite inscription, and from the stalagmite's growth since that time deduced that human-created artefacts found under the formation could be half a million years old.Pike, 5–6 Pengelly plotted the position of every bone, flint, and other artefact he discovered during the excavations and afterward continued working with the Torquay Natural History Society until his death in 1892 at his home less than 2 km from the caves.Russell, 110

File:Kents Cavern (6989).jpg

In 1903, Kents Cavern, then part of Lord Haldon's estate, was sold to Francis Powe, a carpenter who originally used the caves as a workshop while making beach huts for the Torquay sea front. Powe's son, Leslie Powe, turned the caves into a tourist attraction by laying concrete paths, installing electric lighting, and building visitor facilities that later were improved, in turn, by his son John Powe.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2003/kents_cavern.shtml |title=Devon Features – Kents Cavern in Torquay celebrates 100 years under the same ownership |publisher=BBC |date=31 July 2003 |access-date=3 November 2011}} The caves, now owned by Nick Powe, celebrated 100 years of Powe family ownership on 23 August 2003 with special events including an archæological dig for children and a display by a cave rescue team.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/family_friendly/kents_cavern_100.shtml |title=Special events mark Kents Cavern's centenary |publisher=BBC |access-date=3 November 2011}} A year later, a new £500,000 visitor centre was opened, including a restaurant and gift shop.

Attracting 80,000 tourists a year, Kents Cavern is an important tourist attraction, and this was recognised in 2000 when it was awarded Showcave of the Year award and later in November 2005 when it was awarded a prize for being Torquay's Visitor Attraction of the year.{{citation needed |date=July 2023 }}

Kents Cavern is one of the most important geosites in the English Riviera Geopark, one of over 170 UNESCO Global Geoparks.{{citation needed |date=July 2023 }}

In 2023, Kents Cavern was put up for sale for up to £2,500,000 and bought by The Tudor Hotel Collection.{{cite web |last1=Cavern |first1=Kent's |title=Prehistoric Kents Cavern caves sold to hotel and leisure firm |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-66437236 |publisher=BBC News |access-date=1 March 2024}}

"Hampsley Cavern" in Agatha Christie's 1924 novel The Man in the Brown Suit is based on Kents Cavern.{{Cite book | last = Macaskill | first = Hilary | year = 2009 | title = Agatha Christie at Home | publisher = Frances Lincoln Ltd}} The 2011 science fiction romance Time Watchers: The Greatest of These, by Julie Reilly, uses Kents Cavern as a principal setting in three different time periods.

• Boxgrove
• Gough's Cave
• Genetic history of the British Isles
• Happisburgh
• List of human evolution fossils
• List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
• Pakefield
• Prehistoric Britain
• Paviland
• Pontnewydd
• Swanscombe

{{reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Kents Cavern}}

{{EB1911 poster|Kent's Cavern}}

• [http://www.kents-cavern.co.uk/ Kents Cavern homepage]
• [http://faculty.jsd.claremont.edu/dmcfarlane/KentsCavern/index.htm Geochronology of Kents Cavern]

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