William Boyd Dawkins - Archaeology

Archaeology

Dawkins achieved many distinctions in the field of archaeology. In 1859 he moved to Somerset to study classics with the vicar of Wookey. On hearing of the discovery of bones by local workmen he led excavations in the area of the hyena den at Wookey Hole Caves. He also excavated Aveline's Hole, expanding its entrance and naming it after his mentor William Talbot Aveline. His work led to the discovery of the first evidence for use by Palaeolithic man in the Caves of the Mendip Hills.

He spent a great deal of time researching in Derbyshire, especially at Creswell Crags and Windy Knoll near Castleton. At Windy Knoll (NGR SK126830), he proved the existence of exotic animals that lived in England prior to the ice ages. With Rooke Pennington and J. Tym, he discovered bones from bison, hyena, bear and a large cat, possibly a relative of the Sabre Tooth Tiger. The bison bones were more recently dated at 37 300bp (OxA – 4579). Many of the finds are located in the museums of Buxton, Derbyshire and Manchester.