PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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What has become known as "Cattedown Man" was the earliest known inhabitant of the Plymouth area. Taking his name from the limestone cave in the Cattedown area of Plymouth where he was found in 1887, the bones of 15 early humans were discovered intermixed with fossils of woolly rhinoceros, reindeer, hyenas lion and woolly mammoth all dating from the Ice Age. The remains could be up to 140,000 years old and are thought to be the oldest ever found in the British Isles. The site is owned managed by the Devon Karst Research Society. Mr R N Worth recorded that in 1815 a kistvaen was found near the old turnpike gate between Plymouth and Stonehouse. Six slabs of stone formed the chamber measuring 3 feet 6 inches long by 2 feet 6 inches wide and 2 feet 3 inches deep, inside which were fragments of bone and a rude urn made of baked clay. He also recorded that in 1881 a Mr F Brent found a rather odd kistvaen beneath an old house in Stillman Street. It was excavated in the rock and was 3 feet in length by 2 feet in width and a depth of only eighteen inches. It was lined with slabs of dunstone and was roofed in a gable fashion with two other stones, with the ends being closed in. The kistvaen contained a black urn. A finely-polished chert axe was found at Houndiscombe, Mutley, in 1887 and a deer-horn pick was found in the mud while excavating for the docks at Keyham. Sources:
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