Professor Danielle Schreve

They certainly did. They were very keen on finding things like specimens for their cabinet of curiosities. They would go out. In some cases, there were rather systematic excavations done. In other cases, people were literally going along and looking for souvenirs.

All of this happened at a very exciting time, and in fact, Britain and places like the Mendip Hills played a crucial part in that move away from the teachings of the church and understanding about evolution, the discovery of the bones of extinct animals, and then later in association with human tools as well. This was really the first insights into the antiquity of humans.

All of this happened at a very exciting time, and in fact, Britain and places like the Mendip Hills played a crucial part in that move away from the teachings of the church and understanding about evolution, the discovery of the bones of extinct animals, and then later in association with human tools as well. This was really the first insights into the antiquity of humans.

All of this happened at a very exciting time, and in fact, Britain and places like the Mendip Hills played a crucial part in that move away from the teachings of the church and understanding about evolution, the discovery of the bones of extinct animals, and then later in association with human tools as well. This was really the first insights into the antiquity of humans.

So the Mendip Hills have always been a great place to work. And the research that we've been doing in this particular cave site has generated some fantastic information. We have a sequence that goes back over 50,000 years now. And it's one of the most important sites, certainly in Britain and in Northwest Europe.

So the Mendip Hills have always been a great place to work. And the research that we've been doing in this particular cave site has generated some fantastic information. We have a sequence that goes back over 50,000 years now. And it's one of the most important sites, certainly in Britain and in Northwest Europe.

So the Mendip Hills have always been a great place to work. And the research that we've been doing in this particular cave site has generated some fantastic information. We have a sequence that goes back over 50,000 years now. And it's one of the most important sites, certainly in Britain and in Northwest Europe.

We're talking about hundreds of mammal bones. Now they're not all complete. It's important to say that because at some levels within the cave, we have things like spotted hyenas that have been denning there and they're crunching up the bones. So we collect all of the fragments because even the very broken bits tell us something about the origins of what we call an assemblage.

We're talking about hundreds of mammal bones. Now they're not all complete. It's important to say that because at some levels within the cave, we have things like spotted hyenas that have been denning there and they're crunching up the bones. So we collect all of the fragments because even the very broken bits tell us something about the origins of what we call an assemblage.

We're talking about hundreds of mammal bones. Now they're not all complete. It's important to say that because at some levels within the cave, we have things like spotted hyenas that have been denning there and they're crunching up the bones. So we collect all of the fragments because even the very broken bits tell us something about the origins of what we call an assemblage.

So that collection of bits of bone and they tell us what those animals were up to. But at this particular cave site in Ebba Gorge, we have, for example, in some of the upper layers, we have got hundreds of thousands of bits of small mammal. So these might be things like bats, mice, voles, shrews, lemmings.

So that collection of bits of bone and they tell us what those animals were up to. But at this particular cave site in Ebba Gorge, we have, for example, in some of the upper layers, we have got hundreds of thousands of bits of small mammal. So these might be things like bats, mice, voles, shrews, lemmings.

So that collection of bits of bone and they tell us what those animals were up to. But at this particular cave site in Ebba Gorge, we have, for example, in some of the upper layers, we have got hundreds of thousands of bits of small mammal. So these might be things like bats, mice, voles, shrews, lemmings.

They've been brought in by birds of prey that have been hunting over the landscape, that have swallowed this material down. They come back to the cave to roost, and then they regurgitate the undigested bits as pellets. Eventually, thousands of years later, those have started to turn into fossils, and that's when we can come along and collect them.

They've been brought in by birds of prey that have been hunting over the landscape, that have swallowed this material down. They come back to the cave to roost, and then they regurgitate the undigested bits as pellets. Eventually, thousands of years later, those have started to turn into fossils, and that's when we can come along and collect them.

They've been brought in by birds of prey that have been hunting over the landscape, that have swallowed this material down. They come back to the cave to roost, and then they regurgitate the undigested bits as pellets. Eventually, thousands of years later, those have started to turn into fossils, and that's when we can come along and collect them.

The Last Glacial Maximum, Britain, was a pretty chilly place, so subject to really savage cold. So as the name implies, the Last Glacial Maximum witnesses the coldest point of the last ice age, which began about 100,000 years ago. Around about 26,000-25,000 years ago, you get the expansion of ice sheets in Britain. They cover all of Scotland. They cover almost all of Wales.

The Last Glacial Maximum, Britain, was a pretty chilly place, so subject to really savage cold. So as the name implies, the Last Glacial Maximum witnesses the coldest point of the last ice age, which began about 100,000 years ago. Around about 26,000-25,000 years ago, you get the expansion of ice sheets in Britain. They cover all of Scotland. They cover almost all of Wales.

The Last Glacial Maximum, Britain, was a pretty chilly place, so subject to really savage cold. So as the name implies, the Last Glacial Maximum witnesses the coldest point of the last ice age, which began about 100,000 years ago. Around about 26,000-25,000 years ago, you get the expansion of ice sheets in Britain. They cover all of Scotland. They cover almost all of Wales.

They cover most of northern England. They just reached down into the northern coast of East Anglia. So if you can imagine a huge glacier, a huge ice sheet going pretty much all the way from East Yorkshire at an angle down to South Wales, that's the extent of the ice sheet and extending into the North Sea Basin beyond. And in front of that ice sheet, there would have been really a polar desert.