Ash Tree Cave
Excavation
A. Court & A.L. Armstrong, 1938-39; A.L. Armstrong, 1949-1957; S. West & D.N. Riley, 1959-60.
Curation
Manchester Museum; Duckworth Museum Cambridge; Sheffield City Museum; Creswell Crags Museum.
Burials
MNI: 7 (5 adults, 1 juvenile, 1 cremation).
Finds
Charcoal; flint flakes; flint arrowhead; animal bones; Romano-British artefacts; Bronze Age pottery (outside cave).
Dates
| Period | Reliability |
|---|---|
| Bronze Age | 14C date obtained directly on human remains |
14C
3730 bp (OxA-4446) on human bone.
Additional Notes
The human bone dates to the Early Bronze Age.
External References
| Derbyshire Cave Registry | 532 |
| National Monuments Record | SK 57 NW 6 |
| Sites and Monument Record | Dr 283; 15123 |
| Scheduled Ancient Monuments | 13240 |
Bibliography
Armstrong, A.L. (1956) Report on the excavation of Ash Tree Cave, near Whitwell, Derbyshire, 1949 to 1957. Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 76: 57-64.
Armstrong, A.L. (1949-55) Exploration of prehistoric sites in East Derbyshire. Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 69: 69-73; 70: 88-91; 71: 66-8; 72: 133-5; 73: 102-4; 74: 156-7; 75: 149-150.
Branigan, K. & Dearne, M.J. (1991) A Gazetteer of Romano-British Cave Sites and their Finds. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield.
Dudley, T. (1993) Ash Tree Cave, Whitwell, Derbyshire. An examination and analysis of the excavations between 1939 and 1960. Unpublished BA dissertation, Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, University of Nottingham.
Hart, C.R. (1984) The North Derbyshire Archaeological Survey to A.D. 1500. Derbyshire Archaeological Society and Sheffield City Museums, Sheffield.
Hedges, R.E.M. et al. (1996) Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 22. Archaeometry 38: 391-419.
Article Author Graham Mullan