_The Forest and Vale of Pickering in Palæolithic and Pre-Glacial Times._
The Palæolithic or Old Stone Age preceded and succeeded the Great Glacial
Epochs in the Glacialid.
In that distant period of the history of the human race when man was still
so primitive in his habits that traces of his handiwork are exceedingly
difficult to discover, the forest and Vale of Pickering seem to have been
without human inhabitants. Remains of this Old Stone Age have been found
in many parts of England, but they are all south of a line drawn from
Lincoln to Derbyshire and North Wales. In the caves at Cresswell Craggs in
Derbyshire notable Palæolithic discoveries were made, but for some reason
these savage hordes seem to have come no further north than that spot. We
know, however, that many animals belonging to the pre-glacial period
struggled for their existence in the neighbourhood of Pickering.
[Illustration: A plan and section of Kirkdale Cave.]
It was during the summer of 1821 that the famous cave at Kirkdale was
discovered, and the bones of twenty-two different species of animals were
brought to light. Careful examination showed that the cave had for a long
time been the haunt of hyænas of the Pleistocene Period, a geological
division of time, which embraces in its latter part the age of Palæolithic
man. The spotted hyæna that is now to be found only in Africa, south of
the Sahara,[1] was then inhabiting the forests of Yorkshire and preying on
animals now either extinct or only living in tropical climates. The waters
of Lake Pickering seem to have risen to a sufficiently high level at one
period to drive out the occupants of the cave and to have remained static
for long enough to allow the accumulation of about a foot of alluvium
above the bones that littered the floor. By this means it appears that the
large quantity of broken fragments of bones that were recent at the time
of the inundation were preserved to our own times without any perceptible
signs of decomposition. Quarrying operations had been in progress at
Kirkdale for some time when the mouth of the cave was suddenly laid bare
by pure accident. The opening was quite small, being less than 5 feet
square, and as it penetrated the limestone hill it varied from 2 to 7 feet
in breadth and height; the quarrying had also left the opening at a
considerable height up the perpendicular wall of stone. At the present
time it is almost inaccessible, and except for the interest of seeing the
actual site of the discoveries and the picturesqueness of the spot the
cave has no great attractions.
[Footnote 1: Dawkins, W. Boyd. "Early man in Britain," p. 103.]
Not long after it was stumbled upon by the quarrymen Dr William Buckland
went down to Kirkdale, and although some careless digging had taken place
in the outer part of the cave before his arrival, he was able to make a
most careful and exhaustive examination of the undisturbed portions,
giving the results of his work in a paper read before the Royal Society in
1822.[1] Besides the remains of many hyænas there were teeth or bones of
such large animals as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, horse,
tiger, bear, urus (Bos primi-genius) an unknown animal of the size of a
wolf, and three species of deer. The smaller animals included the rabbit,
water-rat, mouse, raven, pigeon, lark and a small type of duck. Everything
was broken into small pieces so that no single skull was found entire and
it was, of course, impossible to obtain anything like a complete skeleton.
From the fact that the bones of the hyænas themselves had suffered the
same treatment as the rest we may infer that these ferocious lovers of
putrid flesh were in the habit of devouring those of their own species
that died a natural death, or that possibly under pressure of hunger were
inclined to kill and eat the weak or diseased members of the pack. From
other evidences in the cave it is plain that its occupants were extremely
fond of bones after the fashion of the South African hyæna.
[Footnote 1: Buckland, The Rev. Wm. "Account of an assemblage of fossil
teeth and bones ... at Kirkdale."]
[Illustration: Jaws of Kirkdale (above) and Modern Hyæna (below). The
Kirkdale Hyænas were evidently much more powerful than the modern ones.]
Although the existing species have jaws of huge strength and these
prehistoric hyænas were probably stronger still, it is quite improbable
that they ever attacked such large animals as elephants; and the fact that
the teeth found in the cave were of very young specimens seems to suggest
that the hyænas now and then found the carcase of a young elephant that
had died, and dragged it piecemeal to their cave. The same would possibly
apply to some of the other large animals, for hyænas, unless in great
extremes of hunger never attack a living animal. They have a loud and
mournful howl, beginning low and ending high, and also a maniacal laugh
when excited.
[Illustration: Teeth of young Elephants found at Kirkdale.]
It might be suggested that the bones had accumulated in the den through
dead bodies of animals being floated in during the inundation by the
waters of the lake, but in that case the remains, owing to the narrowness
of the mouth of the cave, could only have belonged to small animals, and
the skeletons would have been more or less complete, and there are also
evidences on many of the bones of their having been broken by teeth
precisely similar to those of the hyæna.
We see therefore that in this remote age Britain enjoyed a climate which
encouraged the existence of animals now to be found only in tropical
regions, that herds of mammoths or straight-tusked elephants smashed their
way through primæval forests and that the hippopotamus and the woolly or
small-nosed rhinoceros frequented the moist country at the margin of the
lake. Packs of wolves howled at night and terrorised their prey, and in
winter other animals from northern parts would come as far south as
Yorkshire. In fact it seems that the northern and southern groups of
animals in Pleistocene times appeared in this part of England at different
seasons of the year and the hyænas of Kirkdale would, in the opinion of
Professor Boyd Dawkins, prey upon the reindeer at one time of the year and
the hippopotamus at another.
Following this period came a time of intense cold, but the conditions were
not so severe as during the Great Glacial times.
[Illustration: Canine tooth or tusk of a Kirkdale bear (Ursus spelacus)]