Picken's Hole Explained

Picken's Hole is a small cave on the southern side of Crook Peak in the Mendip Hills in the English county of Somerset. It has been designated as a scheduled monument. It has sometimes been confused with a nearby cave called Scragg's Hole, including by the Somerset Historic Environment Record.

The cave is below the plateau and above the valley floor.^[1] It is named after M. J. Picken who found teeth in earth thrown out of their sets in the area by badgers.^[2]

A number of Middle Palaeolithic artefacts, and two Neolithic teeth dated to about 4,800 years bp, were recovered from the cave.^{[3] [4]} Faunal deposits of spotted hyena, lion, Arctic fox, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, horse, reindeer, suslik and northern vole (Microtus oeconomus) from approximately 35,000 BP have also been recovered.^[5]

References

51.291°N -2.8664°W

External links

• Survey at cerberusspeleo.org
• 787. Picken's Hole.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Picken's Hole (Scragg's Hole), near White Rock, Compton Bishop. Somerset Historic Environment Record. South West Heritage Trust. 26 April 2015.
2. Tratman. E.K.. Picken's Hole, Crook Peak, Somerset: A Pleistocene Site. Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society. 1964. 10. 2. 112–115.
3. Book: The British Palaeolithic: Human Societies at the Edge of the Pleistocene World. Paul. Pettitt. Mark. White. Routledge. 2012. 364–65. Abingdon, UK. 978-0-415-67455-3.
4. Book: Smith, David Ingle. Limestone and Caves of the Mendip Hills. 1975. David & Charles. 978-0-7153-6572-4. 360–361.
5. Web site: Crook Peak to Shute Shelve Hill SSSI citation sheet. English Nature. 26 April 2015.