Creswell Crags

There seems to have been 3 main occupation periods at the site which was used as a summer camp by groups following herds of reindeer, bison, mammoth and horses. The first group were Neanderthals from 50000 years ago onwards, then the first modern humans were here around 30000 years ago. The last group left their Creswell Points and bone carvings as well as the recently discovered wall engravings about 11-13000 years ago. Sporadic evidence of use of the caves continues through the prehistoric period. A great deal of information has been lost however as the Victorians actually used explosives to excavate some of the caves On the plus side, when plans were being made to lay a railway through the gorge the land owner thwarted them by damming the stream and creating the modern lake – nice one!