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The Stratigraphy of Kirkhead Cave, an Upper Palaeolithic Site in Northern England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Stephen J. Gale ,
Christopher O. Hunt  and
Graham A. Southgate
Stephen J. Gale
Affiliation:
CCAT, Cambridge CB1 1PT, United Kingdom
Christopher O. Hunt
Affiliation:
Creswell Crags Visitor Centre, Crags Road, Welbeck, Worksop S80 3LH, United Kingdom
Graham A. Southgate
Affiliation:
Godwin Laboratory, Sub-department of Quaternary Research, Cambridge CB2 3RS, United Kingdom
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Abstract

The sediments of Kirkhead Cave, a truncated phreatic conduit in the Morecambe Bay karst of northern England, have been investigated by scanning electron microscopic, granulometric, petrographic, palynologic and stratigraphic methods. These show that almost all the deposits in the cave are glacigenic sediments, reworked into the cave by a variety of transporting agencies. Investigation of the deposits by radiometric, magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic methods suggests that the fill represents a near-continuum of deposition from at least pollen zone III of the Late-glacial until modern times. Within the deposits is evidence of use of the cave by man from later upper palaeolithic (Creswellian) times onwards. However, no definite evidence has been found of later upper palaeolithic use of the cave prior to the middle of pollen zone III. It is therefore suggested that the occupation of marginal areas of upper palaeolithic colonization, such as the far north of northern England, after the last glaciation may have taken place somewhat later than has previously been recognized.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , December 1985 , pp. 283 - 304
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1985

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