A selection of items found in the cave. From the article
Report on the Results Obtained by the Settle Cave Exploration Committee Out of Victoria Cave in 1870.
W. Boyd Dawkins
The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 1. (1872), pp. 60-70.
A view from within
“The Victoria Cave, near Settle, so called from its discovery on the coronation day of our Queen, stands about half-way up a cliff two hundred feet high.”
Mr Jackson, the superintendant of the excavations, found a layer containing lots of “ornaments and implements.” I liked the way they were described – and some of them have got to be prehistoric:
“Besides spindlewhorls, beads, and curious nondescript articles of bone, it yielded bronze fibulae of undoubtedly Roman workmanship, a portion of the ivory hilt of a Roman sword, and spiral armlets made of bronze and gilded, which possibly may not be Roman. Some of the ornaments certainly present a style of art which is not Roman, and which is by no means of a contemptible order [!]. One curious circular brooch was composed of two plates of bronze soldered together, the front being very thin, and bearing flamboyant and spiral patterns of admirable design and execution.”
Of another fibula, “its delicate workmanship implies a high degree of taste in the fabricator.”
from
Report on the Results Obtained by the Settle Cave Exploration Committee Out of Victoria Cave in 1870.
W. Boyd Dawkins
The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 1. (1872), pp. 60-70.
This cave has shown extensive use from the Mesolithic and before to the Roman period. Finds have included animal bone, flints and pottery.
Non-Human remains from Victoria Cave
A detailed description of Victoria Cave
The excellent Yorkshire Dales National Park Authorities Out of Oblivion website Contains – a description of the cave and its archaeology, location details, Public transport details and accessibility information.
