Revisiting Alice and Gwendoline Cave, Co. Clare: new light on the 1902 excavations

Abstract:Alice and Gwendoline Cave, Co. Clare, has produced the first evidence for human occupation on the island of Ireland during the Palaeolithic. A butchered brown bear patella discovered in the cave during excavations by the Committee Appointed to Explore Irish Caves in 1902 was recently dated by AMS to the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) period. As part of current investigations into the cave, this paper presents hitherto unpublished data on the archaeological and palaeontological context of the antiquarian discoveries based on detailed analysis of an unpublished notebook related to the 1902 excavation. A GIS reconstruction of the original antiquarian grid system has facilitated a visualisation of the spatial distribution of artefacts, human bones and faunal remains found at the cave. This provides a more nuanced understanding of human activities at this multi-period site and highlights the role of natural formation processes at the cave, particularly with regard to the bones of extinct fauna. Preliminary results of a recent excavation inform our interpretation of the antiquarian data. The information extracted from the unpublished notebook provides an essential foundation for any future investigations of the site or any re-evaluation of material recovered there in 1902.