Organised by:
South West Regional Group
Venue:
Kents Cavern, 91 Ilsham Road, Torquay, Devon. TQ1 2JF
Event status:
EVENT CLOSED
Please join us for a guided tour of the Kents Cavern cave system.
Time: Meet at 10:30 for tour commencing at 11:15
Cost: £7.75 per person
About Kents Cavern
Kents Cavern is notable for its archaeological and geological features. The cave system is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (since 1952) and a Scheduled Ancient Monument (since 1957). They have been occupied by one of at least eight separate, discontinuous native populations to have inhabited the British Isles.
Attracting 80,000 tourists a year, Kents Cavern is an important tourist attraction and this was recognised in 2000 when it was awarded Showcave of the Year award and later in November 2005 when it was awarded a prize for being Torquay's Visitor Attraction of the year.
The Pleistocene fauna of the South West was extremely diverse, including mammoths, cave bears, hyenas, and even sabre-tooth cats. Fossils dating back to 125,000 years present a different, lost world, where most of these incredible species vanished fairly recently. As vital habitats during cold phases caves such as Kent’s Cavern provided the stage for encounters between fauna large and small as well as hominin species.
About the trip leaders:
Dr Simon Underdown, Principal Lecturer in Biological Anthropology, Oxford Brookes University.
Vice-President, Royal Anthropological Institute. He has a particular interest in human evolution especially the palaeobiology of the Neanderthals. He has carried out fieldwork across the world but has an especial interest (and affection) for the cave sites of the South West.
Jan Freedman, Curator of Natural History at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery.
He has a strong interest in Pleistocene fauna, in particular from sites in the South West. As well as zoological and botanical collections, he cares for a large, nationally important Quaternary sub-fossil collection at Plymouth Museum.
Further information
Free parking is included in the entry costs for the meeting
Prior booking is essential. Email [email protected]