bone cave

A cave recognized particularly for its contained deposits of animal bones. The bones may be the remains of animals that fell into the cave, as in the Joint Mitnor Cave, Devon, or in many other pitfall or fissure sites. Alternatively the bones may be of animals that originally lived in the cave - and these may include man, as at Niah Cave, Sarawak, or at Russell Cave, USA. A third, and most important, type of bone cave is the ancient animal den, into which scavengers such as hyaenas dragged the remains of many other animals, as for example at Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire [3].