Beaker Shelter
PRN 22784
Located near the viewpoint on the eastern side of Ebbor Gorge, the shelter has two entrances; the main one is on the right, the second on the left is a narrow slot that connects with the first at the bottom of the cave. The cave is about 4m deep.
Before its excavation in 1931, the shelter was described as a tiny archway with room for two persons to sit comfortably. In the first eighteen inches of the dig, eight flint scrapers were found together with numerous fragments of deer bones. At that depth, a floor made up of flagstones of limestone was encountered, and immediately below this a human femur and small foot and hand bones. Accompanying the human remains was a half-shaped arrow head and three more scrapers. This would make a total of twelve flint implements from the shelter. So far, at Wells Museum we have seen a group of five flints attributed to the site. Bones then became very scanty; despite digging to a depth of six feet, the sediment remained barren (Balch 1931). The site was dug again in 1951 when the smaller entrance was opened (Barrington and Stanton 1977). More human remains were found, with more parts of the skeleton being recovered, including an almost complete skull. These remains belonged to at least two individuals. A large piece of beaker pottery was found with them. |
