Discoveries in Devon: The Works of father John MacEnery and William Pengelly

The early investigators of Kent’s Cavern, Torquay, Devon, had an important part to play in the understanding of human antiquity. Father John MacEnery (1796–1841) first realised the significance of Kent’s Cavern as a site where stone tools and extinct animal bones could be found together. It was, however, to be William Pengelly (1812–1894) who came to be credited with proving the ancient contemporaneity of stone tools and extinct fauna, firstly at Windmill Hill Cave, Brixham, Devon, and later during excavation of Kent’s Cavern, Torquay. Pengelly adopted a methodical approach to his excavations recording everything he discovered in such a way that much of his work can now be plotted using sophisticated computer mapping techniques that were unimaginable in his day (McFarlane & Lundberg 2005). The finds from MacEnery’s investigations became largely scattered between different private and public collections, whilst those from Pengelly’s work remain mostly in the collection of Torquay Museum, which he helped to found. The stone tools are now known to span throughout the prehistoric occupation of Britain, and include handaxes, Mousterian scrapers, Aurignacian forms, Font-Robert points and types typical of the late Upper Palaeolithic. A human mandible discovered during later excavations in 1926 at the cave by Keith (1927), now dated to an age beyond 35,000 BP, has tantalisingly yet to reveal itself as either a late Neanderthal, or an early Modern Human (Stringer 2006: 197). MacEnery and Pengelly’s work at Kent’s Cavern continues to be built upon by modern workers and still makes a large contribution to present- day research. Full reference: Walker, E.A. 2009. Discoveries in Devon: the works of Father John MacEnery and William Pengelly. In R. Hosfield, F. Wenban-Smith & M. Pope (eds.) Great Prehistorians: 150 Years of Palaeolithic Research, 1859–2009 (Special Volume 30 of Lithics: The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society): 25–33. Lithic Studies Society, London. Keywords: MacEnery, Pengelly, Kent’s Cavern, Windmill Hill Cave