Journal of Cave and Karst Studies - ISSN 1090-6924
Volume 67 Number 1: 39-47 - April 2005

A publication of the National Speleological Society

The 19th century excavation of Kent’s Cavern, England
Donald A. McFarlane and Joyce Lundberg

Abstract

Between 1858 and 1880, William Pengelly developed revolutionary new techniques for the archeological and paleontological excavation of cave deposits. His work at Brixham Cave and Kent’s Cavern, England, yielded tens of thousands of specimens from the mid-Pleistocene to the Holocene, settled the intellectual debate over the co-existence of humans and extinct mammals, and accumulated an unparalleled resource for continued study. Although the Brixham Cave work was thoroughly summarized in print, Pengelly never published the plans of his much more thorough and extensive excavations at Kent’s Cavern. Here we present a reconstructed plan of the Pengelly excavations that we hope will be a valuable resource for future analyses of the archaeological and paleontological collections.

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