Creswell Crags
Encyclopedia
Creswell Crags is a limestone
gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, England
near the villages of Creswell
, Whitwell
and Elmton
. The cliff
s of the ravine
contain several cave
s that were occupied during the last ice age
, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago.
The caves contain occupation layers with evidence of flint tools from the Mousterian
, proto-Solutrean
, Creswellian
and Maglemosian cultures
. They were seasonally occupied by nomad
ic groups of people during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
periods. Evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age
, Roman
and post-medieval activity has also been found there. 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.
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 1876 to the present day. The "Ochre Horse" was found on 29 June 1876 at the back of the western chamber in the 'Robin Hood Cave'. Early excavations were carried out by Professor Sir William Boyd Dawkins
, who wrote several papers on his findings.
In 2003, the Ochre Horse was estimated to be between 11,000 and 13,000 years old. The site is open to the public and there is a visitor's centre.
-series disequilibrium method, which showed the oldest of these flowstones to have formed 12,800 years ago. 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. All the caves with the engravings are situated on the Nottinghamshire side of the gorge.
As a result of its unique features, Creswell Crags has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI).
It is the subject of the BBC Radio 4
documentaries Unearthing Mysteries and Nature, which can both be listened to using the links below. Creswell Crags also featured in the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders
as one of the wonders of the Midlands.
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.
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
near the villages of Creswell
Creswell, Derbyshire
Creswell is a village located in Bolsover, near Worksop, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom. It is best known for Creswell Crags and Creswell Model Village....
, Whitwell
Whitwell, Derbyshire
Whitwell is a small village located in Derbyshire, England.Although Whitwell celebrated its 1,000th anniversary in the 'Whitwell 1000' Celebrations of 1989 it is much older than this celebration suggests.The earliest written references to Whitwell are from the Anglo-Saxon charters however many of...
and Elmton
Elmton
Elmton is a linear village. It is located in the parish of Elmton-with-Creswell in the Bolsover district of Derbyshire approximately equidistant between Bolsover Castle and Creswell Crags.- History :...
. The cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s of the ravine
Ravine
A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...
contain several cave
Cave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
s that were occupied during the last ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago.
The caves contain occupation layers with evidence of flint tools from the Mousterian
Mousterian
Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis and dating to the Middle Paleolithic, the middle part of the Old Stone Age.-Naming:...
, proto-Solutrean
Solutrean
The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Palaeolithic, from around 22,000 to 17,000 BP.-Details:...
, Creswellian
Creswellian
The Creswellian is a British Upper Palaeolithic culture named after the type site of Creswell Crags in Derbyshire by Dorothy Garrod in 1926. It dates to between c...
and Maglemosian cultures
Archaeological culture
An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and...
. They were seasonally occupied by nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic groups of people during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
periods. Evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, Roman
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
and post-medieval activity has also been found there. 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.
The Ochre Horse
A boneBone
Bones are rigid organs that constitute part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals. Bone tissue is a type of dense connective tissue...
engraved with a horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
's head and other worked bone items along with the remains of a wide variety of prehistoric animals have been found in excavations from 1876 to the present day. The "Ochre Horse" was found on 29 June 1876 at the back of the western chamber in the 'Robin Hood Cave'. Early excavations were carried out by Professor Sir William Boyd Dawkins
William Boyd Dawkins
Professor Sir William Boyd Dawkins, FRS, KBE was a British geologist and archaeologist. He was a member of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, Curator of the Manchester Museum and Professor of Geology at Owens College, Manchester. He is noted for his research on fossils and the antiquity of man...
, who wrote several papers on his findings.
In 2003, the Ochre Horse was estimated to be between 11,000 and 13,000 years old. The site is open to the public and there is a visitor's centre.
British cave art
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. To this day the finds at Creswell Crags represent the most northerly finds in Europe. Their subject matter includes representations of animals including bison and, arguably, several different bird species. Some workers, however, consider that the "bird" figures are more likely to be female anthropomorphs. 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 uraniumUranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
-series disequilibrium method, which showed the oldest of these flowstones to have formed 12,800 years ago. 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. All the caves with the engravings are situated on the Nottinghamshire side of the gorge.
Caves
The most occupied caves were:- 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 rhinocerosWoolly RhinocerosThe woolly rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived the last glacial period. The genus name Coelodonta means "cavity tooth"...
es and arctic hareArctic HareThe arctic hare , or polar rabbit is a species of hare which is adapted largely to polar and mountainous habitats. The arctic hare survives with a thick coat of fur and usually digs holes under the ground or snow to keep warm and sleep...
s; - The Pin Hole, a prehistoric hyenaHyenaHyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
den and also occupied by NeandertalNeanderthalThe Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
s. 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
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI).
It is the subject of the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
documentaries Unearthing Mysteries and Nature, which can both be listened to using the links below. Creswell Crags also featured in the 2005 TV programme Seven Natural Wonders
Seven Natural Wonders
Seven Natural Wonders was a television series that was broadcast on BBC Two from 3 May to 20 June 2005. The programme took an area of England each week and, from votes by the people living in that area, showed the 'seven natural wonders' of that area in a programme.The programmes were:The series...
as one of the wonders of the Midlands.
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.