Aveline's Hole
On the first "real" Sunday we have had for a while, with both Moonface and I at home, together with Tommo, we joined the UB-organised trip down Aveline's Hole, a cave in Mendip. It is (so we were told) the largest mesolithic cemetery site in Europe, the burial site of 70 dismembered bodies from 10,000 years ago.
Although we have driven through Burrington Combe en route to walking over the Mendips many times before, and even seen the entry to the cave, we had never stopped to look inside. Now that the cave has been emptied of sediments and detritus by archaeologists, it looks much like any other limestone cave, except for its strong downward slope which is many ways more reminiscent of a mine adit. However, toward to back of the cave where it takes an upward slope again, there is a gated grille. This was installed in 2004, after a small series of prehistoric art was discovered; it was that which we were there to see. To be honest, it didn't look much: just a series of faint hatchings on a smooth rockface at about head height. But it was only the second instance of cave art from that period found in Britain, so it's important. And sadly, the grille was put there to protect the scratches from vandalism.
(It doesn't look much, does it?)
The explanations and information given were wonderful, given by the discoverers of the drawings, and they pitched the tour perfectly but were able to expand and expound upon any questions we were able to throw at them, for as long as we wanted. Thank you, Linda Wilson. To summarise, the cave was the cemetery for a small hunting group of about 25-30 people over a period of around 120 years. At that time, the ice sheets had gone, and the coastline was similar to today's. They blocked the cave after each internment, and then stopped, leaving it blocked until 1795 when it was discovered by some rabbiters.
Although we have driven through Burrington Combe en route to walking over the Mendips many times before, and even seen the entry to the cave, we had never stopped to look inside. Now that the cave has been emptied of sediments and detritus by archaeologists, it looks much like any other limestone cave, except for its strong downward slope which is many ways more reminiscent of a mine adit. However, toward to back of the cave where it takes an upward slope again, there is a gated grille. This was installed in 2004, after a small series of prehistoric art was discovered; it was that which we were there to see. To be honest, it didn't look much: just a series of faint hatchings on a smooth rockface at about head height. But it was only the second instance of cave art from that period found in Britain, so it's important. And sadly, the grille was put there to protect the scratches from vandalism.
(It doesn't look much, does it?)
The explanations and information given were wonderful, given by the discoverers of the drawings, and they pitched the tour perfectly but were able to expand and expound upon any questions we were able to throw at them, for as long as we wanted. Thank you, Linda Wilson. To summarise, the cave was the cemetery for a small hunting group of about 25-30 people over a period of around 120 years. At that time, the ice sheets had gone, and the coastline was similar to today's. They blocked the cave after each internment, and then stopped, leaving it blocked until 1795 when it was discovered by some rabbiters.
******************
We also had a short walk high on the hillside above the cave beforehand, making the most of a spell without rain. We ate sandwiches on a dry lime outcrop, with views across the Severn to Wales.
:O)
:O)
posted by Moses at
10:08 am
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