Cattedown Cave
Excavation
R.N. Worth, 1887.
Curation
Plymouth City Museum; Natural History Museum, London.
Burials
MNI: 15+
Finds
Flint core; charcoal.
Dates
| Period | Reliability |
|---|---|
| Neolithic | 14C date obtained directly on human remains |
14C
4990 bp (OxA-15256) on human tooth.
External References
| National Monuments Record | SX 45 SE 127 |
| Devon and Cornwall Cave Registry | 144 |
Bibliography
Beddoe, J. (1903) On certain human bones from a cave at Cattedown, Devon. Transactions of the Plymouth Institution 14: 105-110.
Chamberlain, A.T. & Ray, K. (1994) A Catalogue of Quaternary Fossil Bearing Cave Sites in the Plymouth Area. Plymouth City Council, Plymouth.
Davies, S. (1995) Cattedown reclamation scheme, Plymouth: an archaeological impact study. In Ray, K. (ed.) Archaeological Investigations and Research in Plymouth, Volume 1: 1992-1993. Plymouth Archaeology Occasional Publication No 2, Plymouth City Council: 9-17.
Higham, T.F.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Brock, F., Baker, D. & Ditchfield, P. (2007) Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 32. Archaeometry 49, S1: 1-60.
Sutcliffe, A.J. (1974) The caves of South Devon. In Straw, A. (ed.) Easter Field Meeting Handbook. Quaternary Research Association, University of Exeter, p. 8-10.
Sutcliffe, A.J. & Lewarne, B. (1977) An unsolved mystery: the age of the almost destroyed human remains from Cattedown Cave, Plymouth, Devon. Studies In Speleology 3: 43-48.
Worth, R.H. (1937) A new first chapter for the history of Plymouth. Transactions of the Plymouth Institution 17: 218-230.
Worth, R.N. (1866) A History Of Devonshire. With Sketches of its Leading Worthies. Popular County Histories.
Worth, R.N. (1887a) The Cattedown bone cave. Transactions of the Plymouth Institution 8: 10-38.
Worth, R.N. (1887b) On the occurrence of human remains in a bone cave at Cattedown. Transactions of the Devonshire Association 19: 419-437.
Worth, R.N. (1887c) On the discovery of human remains in a Devonshire bone cave. Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall 11: 105-112.
Article Author Graham Mullan