On this page you will find details of the Progression of Man, and the Animals who used the caves.

LOWER PALAEOLITHIC 700,000 -75,000 ya European Homo erectus, Homo Heidelberg MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC 75,000-40,000 ya Neandertals UPPER PALAEOLITHIC 40,000 - 10,000 ya Neandertals and modern man Homo sapiens MESOLITHIC 10,000-7,000 ya Modern man, Homo sapiens NEOLITHIC 7000-4500 ya New Stone Age, period begins; first evidence of farming appears; stone axes, antler combs, pottery in common use BRONZE AGE 4500-2600 ya In about 2000BC construction of Stonehenge begun and from about 1500BC farms with buildings and separate walled fields are in use across Dartmoor. A good example is at Grimspound IRON AGE 2600-2055 ya Iron replaces bronze. Metal coinage comes into use and widespread contact with continental Europe begins. ROMAN BRITAIN 55BC-410AD Invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar

The progression of man across the continents is thought to have taken place during the cold periods. During the warm periods melting ice caused the sea level to rise and oceans separated the continents. Furthermore during warm periods food would have been easier to find. On the edge of the glacial areas the vegetation was grassland or tundra. Tundra is a cold, treeless area and characterised by very low temperatures, little rain or snow, a short growing season, few nutrients, and low biological diversity. The word tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturia, which means "treeless plain." The area around the caves during the three ice ages would have been tundra. The history of man in Britain goes back to the Lower Palaeolithic period, the Stone Age, when homo erectus, the first hominid to migrate and survive outside the African continent, dispersed into Asia and to the edge of Europe about 700,000 years ago. The first of the Stone Age tool makers was Australopithecus afarensis, an ancestor of homo erectus who lived in Africa. The best known fossils from austalopithecus were found in Ethiopia and named 'Lucy'. Kents Cavern is the oldest recognisable human dwelling in Britain and has some of the oldest evidence of man's occupation of Britain. Five hand axes, made from flint, found in the caves are currently dated at 450,000 years old. Found in the breccia along the Long Arcade and Clinnicks Gallery, deep in the cave, hand axes were made and used by European Homo erectus, also known as Heidelberg man nearly half a million years ago. Heidelberg man was named after workers in a gravel pit discovered a jaw bone near Heidelberg in Germany. The find consisted of a lower jaw with a receding chin and all its teeth. While the jaw appears to be homo erectus, the teeth are smaller than other erectus finds. The remains are estimated to be about 500,000 years old. Evidence of heidleberg man in Kents Cavern comes from large flints worked into hand axes nearly half million years ago. The first Neandertal remains were found in the Neander valley in Germany in 1856. These bones were found to be different from modern humans. Neandertals lived during the middle and upper palaeolithic period between 120,000 and 10,000 years ago. The tools they made are very distinctive and changed very little during this time. Recent Neandertal artefacts from the end of the last ice age (10,000 years ago) demonstrate workmanship associated with modern man, homo sapiens, indicating that the two species lived side by side. The relationship between Neandertals and homo sapiens, ourselves, what language and social capabilities they had and what caused them to become extinct is still a much debated issue. Kents Cavern is rich in Neandertal flint implements indicating that this species was well established this far north in Europe. The upper palaeolithic period is associated with the evolution of modern man, homo sapiens. The first discoveries in Europe are about 40,000 years ago and a jaw bone with teeth found in the Vestibule Chamber in Kents Cavern, close to the entrances used today, is 31,000 years old. The ice age is over and the climate of Britain is pretty much the same as today. Stone implements are attached to wooden shafts to form arrows and spears. Bones and shells were shaped into tools. Mesolithic material is found in Kents Cavern. Neolithic (new stone age) period begins with the first evidence of farming. Stone axes, antler combs and pottery are in common use. Flint is still the main source of sharp cutting edges. Copper was the first metal used by man. It could be worked into shapes by pouring the molten metal into prepared moulds. When tin was combined with copper, a much better material was formed, Bronze. Throughout the bronze age, trade began to develop and man began to acquire specialised skills. Pottery, copper casting, wood working, animal husbandry all became recognisable skills. Farms and settlements such as the Bronze Age site at Grimspound on Dartmoor became established. Forging copper into tools, weapons and ornaments soon led to the development of the necessary skills to smelt iron ore into the much stronger metal, Iron. Iron Age artefacts are numerous and include cauldrons, buckets, helmets, shields and pins and broaches. The increasing trade links with other parts of Europe created the need for defence and Iron Age forts. Defendable homesteads such as the ones at Walls Hill, Torquay and Berry Head Brixham are good examples from this period. In 55BC, Julius Caesar first sends troups to Britain, but they are forced to retreat. First actual invasion was in 43AD.

Dinosaurs have been extinct for about 65 million years. The oldest remains of animals found in Kents Cavern are cave bear about 500,000 years old. This period is the lower palaeolithic period, the Old Stone Age. Man has begun to move north into Europe from Africa. At the same time, half a million years ago, these early bipedal hominids, walking on two legs, reached this part of Britain. (Ursus deningeri) 700,000 - 10,000 ya Shoulder Height 1.5m Length 2.7m Weight 250-350kg This bear has been known about from 700,000 years ago and evolved into Ursus spelaeus some 300,000 years ago. In Kents Cavern remains of Ursus deningeri were found in the breccia and have been dated as old as 500,000 years. They were mainly vegetarian and used the caves to hibernate, entering the caves in autumn. It was not uncommon for these bears to die during hibernation, possibly as a result of excessive exposure to water during hibernation lowering the body temperature below the optimum level. Over the centuries this resulted in many hundreds of bones and teeth being found in the caves. Visitors today see a cave bear skull still embedded in the cave wall in the Water Gallery. The complete skull of a female bear found in 1947 and dated at 350,000 years old is also on display. (Ursus spelaeus) 300,000 - 10,000 ya Shoulder Height 1.5m Length 2.7m Weight 330-440kg In Kents Cavern a few specimens have been identified from about 50,000 to 20,000 years ago. This bear was much larger than the ancestral cave bear being about twice the body weight of brown bears in Europe today. The relative rarity of this cave bear in Britain in the last ice age shows that although the species still occasionally ranged this far north, it had largely lost its foothold here probably as result of the invasion of the brown bear. (Panthera leo) 500,000 - 20,000 ya Shoulder Height 1.4m Length 2.5m Weight 250-400kg This lion was larger than its relatives in Africa today but otherwise quite similar and is not regarded as a separate species despite the common name "cave lion". Cave lion bones found in Kents Cavern were found in the main cave earth and are from the middle of the last ice age between 50,000 - 20,000 years ago. (Homotherium ladidens) 3million - 200,000 ya Shoulder Height 1m Length 1.7m Weight 80-130kg The discovery of sabre-toothed cats in Britain caused a sensation in the last century when they were first described by Sir Richard Owen from Kents Cavern (he called them Machairodus). Though rare, they are now known to have lived in Europe from about 3 million years ago until their extinction, perhaps 200,000 years ago, although there are occasional claims for much later persistence. In Kents Cavern about half a dozen canines have been found in the breccia, believed to be around 400,000 years but none have been found from later periods. The sabre-toothed cat was about the size of a present-day lion but with elongated fangs and front legs with a short tail and a somewhat sloping back appearance. (Mammuthus primigenius) 135,000 - 11,000 ya Shoulder Height 3 m An ice age animal whose name mammoth is thought to come from the Russian word "mammut" meaning "earth mole" as they believed the animals to live underground and die on contact with the light, explaining why they were always found dead and half-buried. Complete remains of mammoths have been found in Siberia. In Kents Cavern mammoth remains include teeth and leg bones likely to have been dragged into the caves by scavenging hyaenas. Mammoths became extinct at the end of the last ice age although one theory on mammoth extinction is that they were exposed to viruses and diseases carried by dogs. Dogs were being used increasingly by man to hunt the beasts. (Crocuta crocuta) 500,000 - 20,000 ya Shoulder Height 1m Length 1.7m Weight 80-130kg The hyaenas of the last cold stage such as those from Kents Cavern were markedly larger than those living in Africa today. However, they were otherwise very similar, and are not now regarded as a separate species, despite the common name "cave hyaena". As well as their bones and teeth, fossil droppings (coprolites) are also found. Analysis of pollen contained in these droppings give clues to the flora (plants) that grew outside the cave at the time. Many of the bones of other animals found in the caves are scratched by gnaw marks from the hyaena. Hyaena not only scavenged but hunted in packs of 10 to 25 animals, mostly at night. Their diet consisted of deer, horse, bison, baby mammoth and woolly rhino. These animals made dens in caves where they lived with their young. Wolf (Canis lupus) Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) Woolly Rhino (Coelodonta antiquitatis)