Creswell Crags - Citizendia

Map showing the location of Creswell Crags within Derbyshire

Creswell Crags is a limestone gorge in North East Derbyshire, England near the villages of Creswell, Whitwell and Elmton. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 For the song see CANYONMID. For the band see Canyon (band. A canyon (rarely cañon) or gorge History The area that is now Derbyshire was first visited probably briefly by humans 200000 years ago during the Aveley Interglacial as evidenced by a Middle England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Creswell is a Village located in Bolsover, near Worksop, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom. Whitwell is a small Village located in Derbyshire, England. Although Whitwell celebrated its 1000th anniversary in the 'Whitwell 1000' Celebrations Elmton is a linear village It is located in the parish of Elmton-with-Creswell in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire approximately equidistant between The cliffs of the ravine contain several caves that were occupied during the last ice age, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago. In Geography and Geology, a cliff is a significant vertical or near vertical rock exposure A ravine is a very small Valley, which is often the product of Streamcutting Erosion. A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets

The caves contain occupation layers with evidence of flint tools from the Mousterian, proto-Solutrean, Creswellian and Maglemosian cultures. Chipped stone tools were made by Stone age peoples worldwide Paleolithic tools were relatively simple repeated small flakes being struck or pressed from a cobble Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly Flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Palaeolithic. The Creswellian is a British Upper Palaeolithic culture named after the type site of Creswell Crags in Derbyshire by Dorothy Maglemosian (ca 7500 BC - ca 6000 BC) is the name given to a culture of the early Epipaleolithic period in Northern Europe. In addition to its usual meaning in Social science, in Archaeology, the term culture is also used in reference to several related concepts unique to They were seasonally occupied by nomadic groups of people during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. Nomadic people, (from the νομάδες nomádes, "those who let pasture herds" also known as nomads, are communities of people that The term Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic) (from Greek παλαιός palaios, " Old " and λίθος Lithos, "stone" The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age Evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, Roman and post-medieval activity has also been found there. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for Roman Britain refers to those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and 410 The main phases of stone age occupation were at around 43,000 BC then in a period between 30,000 and 28,000 BC and then again around 10,000 BC.

A bone engraved with a horse's head and other worked bone items along with the remains of a wide variety of prehistoric animals have been found in excavations from 1875 to the present day. Bones are rigid organs that form part of the Endoskeleton of Vertebrates They function to move support and protect the various organs of the body produce The horse ( Equus caballus) is a hoofed ( Ungulate) Mammal, one of eight living species of the family Equidae. Stone Age Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens, Early human migrations "Paleolithic" Year 1875 ( MDCCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Early excavations were carried out by Professor Sir William Boyd Dawkins, who wrote several papers on his findings. Professor Sir William Boyd Dawkins (1837 – 1929 was an English Geologist and Archaeologist. The site is open to the public and there is a visitor's centre.

In April 2003, engravings and bas-reliefs were found on the walls and ceilings of some of the caves; an important find as it had previously been thought that no British cave art existed. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. A bas-relief (baʁəljɛf in French; French for "low relief" derived from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is a Sculpture Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times To this day the finds at Creswell Crags represent the only known examples of Palaeolithic cave art in Britain, the most northerly finds in Europe and the most extensive collection of prehistoric bas-reliefs in the world. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Their subject matter includes representations of animals including bison and several different bird species. The engravers seem to have made use of the naturally uneven cave surface in their carvings and it is likely that they relied on the early morning sunlight entering the caves to illuminate the art. Thin layers of calcium carbonate flowstone overlaying some of the engravings were dated using the uranium-series disequilibrium method, which showed the oldest of these flowstones to have formed 12,800 years ago. Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the This provides a minimum age for the underlying engraving. The scientists and archaeologists concluded it was most likely the engravings were contemporary with evidence for occupation at the site during the late glacial interstadial at around 13,000-15,000 years ago.

The most occupied caves were:

Church Hole Cave, home to Palaeolithic etchings.

Other caves at Creswell Crags.

Mother Grundy's Parlour, which has produced numerous flint tools and split bones and was occupied until the Mesolithic;
Robin Hood's Cave, from which was recovered the horse head-engraved bone and also evidence that its occupants were hunting and trapping woolly rhinoceroses and arctic hares;
The Pin Hole, a prehistoric hyena den and also occupied by Neandertals. Chipped stone tools were made by Stone age peoples worldwide Paleolithic tools were relatively simple repeated small flakes being struck or pressed from a cobble The woolly rhinoceros ( Coelodonta antiquitatis) is an Extinct species of Rhinoceros native to the northern Steppes of Eurasia The Arctic Hare ( Lepus arcticus) is a Hare which is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats The Hyaenidae is a Mammalian family of order Carnivora. The Hyaenidae family native to both African and Asian continents consists of four The Neandertal is a small valley of the river Düssel in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, located about east of Düsseldorf Finds include a bone engraved with a human figure and an ivory pin with etched lines;
Church Hole, which has more than 80 engravings on its walls and was occupied intermittently until Roman times.

As a result of its unique features, Creswell Crags has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). A Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI is a Conservation designation denoting a Protected area in the United Kingdom.

It is the subject of BBC radio 4 documentaries, Unearthing Mysteries and Nature, which can both be listened to using the links section below. Creswell Crags also featured in the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of the Midlands. Seven Natural Wonders was a Television series that aired on BBC Two from 3 May to 20 June 2005.

In 2006/7, the B6042 road was rerouted from its former path through the Crags gorge by approximately 150m to the north to minimise traffic impact on the site.

References

Dawkins W. B, (1877) On mammal fauna of the caves of Cresswell Crags. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 33, pp589 – 612
Dawkins W. B and Mello J. M. , (1879), Further discoveries in the Cresswell Crags. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 35, pp724 – 735

External links

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