ENGLISH RIVIERA GLOBAL GEOPARK
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GEOPARK BLOG

The Origins Dig Diary

2nd September 2009



2 September
Hello there, well, it has been a very rainy day here at Kents Cavern. It's ok for all of the archaeologists working in the cave itself but for those of us working in the environmental processing tent it been rather cold and wet! My name is Beth Upex and I'm a final year PhD student from the University of Durham. I worked here in April and jumped at the chance to come back this season. I've been helping with the processing all of the soil that is excavated from the cave. The soil is washed through a flotation tank which allows us to separate out any charcoal (very useful for dating!) but also cleans the soil, leaving us with a residue of clean stones and finds. These finds consist mainly of bones, particularly small mammal bones (such as voles) which are useful in reconstructing the environment of Kents Cavern in the past. In the cave itself the excavation is going really well. Today, a hyena maxilla complete with teeth was discovered and we think that the other side of the maxilla is also there, as there are more teeth sticking out of the soil, waiting to be uncovered. Until now we have only had isolated hyena teeth so to get a complete maxilla is very exciting! Also I have just been shown a huge and beautiful woolly rhino tooth that they have just uncovered. Woolly rhino is thought to become extinct 30 thousand years ago in Britain, it's amazing to actually hold something that old!! Well, I expect I cannot escape the rainy processing tent forever and should get back to the rest of the team. Let's hope that sunshine and Neanderthal bones are on the cards for tomorrow!!



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