Wookey Hole Cave, St. Cuthbert Out, Somerset


NGR: ST 5319 4801

NMR: ST 54 NW 14

SMR: S 24355

SAM: -

MCRA: 275

Excavation: H.E. Balch 1904-13; E.J. Mason, 1946-49; E.K. Tratman 1970-76.

Curation: Wells and Mendip Museum, UBSS Museum, Manchester Museum.

Burials: MNI: 28+

Finds: Romano-British artefacts, Roman coins, bronze jewellery, animal bones.

Date: Iron Age & Romano British (1).

14C: 2245 bp (SUERC-50793), 1760 bp (SUERC-50794) on human bone.

Bibliography:

Balch, H.E. (1913) Further excavations at the late-Celtic and Romano-British cave-dwelling at Wookey Hole, Somerset. Archaeologia 64: 337-346.

Balch, H.E. (1928) Excavations at Wookey Hole and other Mendip caves 1926-7. Antiquaries Journal 8: 193-210.

Balch, H.E. & Troup, R.D.R. (1911) A late Celtic and Romano-British cave-dwelling at Wookey-Hole, near Wells, Somerset. Archaeologia 62: 565-592.

Branigan, K. & Dearne, M.J. (1990) The Romano-British finds from Wookey Hole: a re-appraisal. Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society 134: 57-80.

Branigan, K. & Dearne, M.J. (1991) A Gazetteer of Romano-British Cave Sites and their Finds. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield.

Hawkes, C.J., Rogers, J.M. & Tratman, E.K. (1978) Romano-British cemetery in the fourth chamber of Wookey Hole Cave, Somerset. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 15 (2): 23-52.

Lane, B. (2016) New radiocarbon dates for sites around Wells. Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society. 159: 186-190.

Mason, E.J. (1950) Note on recent exploration in Wookey Hole. Archaeological Journal 107: 93-94.

Mason, E.J. (1951) Report of human remains and materials recovered from the River Axe in the Great Cave of Wookey Hole during diving operations from October 1947 to Jan. 1949. Transactions of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society 96: 238-243.

McComb, P. (1989) Upper Palaeolithic Artefacts from Britain and Belgium. An Inventory and Technological Description. British Archaeological Reports International Series 481.

Sanford, W.A. (1870) On the rodentia of the Somerset caves. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 26: 124-131.

Stack, M.V. & Coles, S.G. (1983) Concentrations of lead, cadmium, copper and zinc in teeth from a cave used for Romano-British burials: effect of lead contamination. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society 16 (3): 193-200.

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