Alice and Gwendoline Cave

The Alice and Gwendoline Cave is a limestone cave in County Clare, Ireland. It is known as the site of brown bear bones bearing the mark of butchery, which have pushed back the first known human habitation of Ireland by over two thousand years.[1][2]

Alice and Gwendoline Cave
Uaimh Ailíse agus Gwendoline
LocationEdenvale, Ennis, County Clare
OSI/OSNI gridR 319 745
Coordinates52.817650°N 9.009355°W / 52.817650; -9.009355
GeologyLimestone
Entrances1

Location
Edenvale House

The Alice and Gwendoline Cave is located about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) southwest of Ennis, near to Edenvale House and Edenvale Lough.[3]

History

Previously called the Bull Paddock Cave, the Alice and Gwendoline Cave was named for two of Alice Julia Stacpoole's daughters, Alice Jane and Gwendoline Clare Surprise, nieces of Thomas Johnson Westropp.[4][5] It was investigated in 1902.[6]

In 2016, a bear patella was discovered among the samples recovered in 1902 and deposited in the National Museum of Ireland, bearing clear butchery marks; cut marks that showed that someone was trying to remove the tendons; these could be used for sewing, fletching and hafting. It was dated to the 11th millennium BC: between 10860 and 10641 BC.[7] This is over two thousand years earlier than the previously accepted date for the first human habitation of Ireland (the Mount Sandel Mesolithic site is dated to 7900 BC at the earliest).[8] Dr Marion Dowd (IT Sligo) and Dr Ruth Carden (National Museum of Ireland) were co-discoverers.[9]

References
  1. Scharff, R. F.; Ussher, R. J.; Cole, Grenville A. J.; Newton, E. T.; Dixon, A. Francis; Westropp, T. J. (1906). "The Exploration of the Caves of County Clare. Being the Second Report from the Committee Appointed to Explore Irish Cave". The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. 33: 1–76. JSTOR 30078871.
  2. Murphy, Anthony. "Mythical Ireland | Blog | The bear bone that pushes back human presence in Ireland by 2,500 years to 10500BC". Mythical Ireland | New light on the ancient past.
  3. "Exploration of the Caves of County Clare". Acad. House. May 26, 1906 – via Google Books.
  4. "This €3.5m period property was home to one of Britain's top radio and TV personalities". independent.
  5. "Ann Fitzgerald: The bare bones of history reveal some ancient secrets". independent.
  6. Below, Darkness. "Alice and Gwendoline Cave – Darkness Below".
  7. Dowd, Marion (2016). "A Remarkable Cave Discovery". Archaeology Ireland. 30 (2): 21–25. JSTOR 43816774.
  8. Dowd, Marion. "A remarkable cave discovery: first evidence for a late Upper Palaeolithic human presence in Ireland". Archaeology Ireland 30 (2), 21-25 – via www.academia.edu.
  9. Jöns, Hauke (May 26, 2019). The Archaeology of Europe's Drowned Landscapes. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783030373672 – via Google Books.
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