These teeth belong to an extinct species of giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) that once grazed the Yorkshire Dales 120,000 years ago. They were found in 1872 by Victorian archaeologists inside Victoria Cave. The bones had been brought into the cave by hyenas, who used it as a den during the Last Interglacial - a particularly warm period which lasted from about 130,000-115,000 years ago. Misidentified at the time (hence the word “Bison” inked on the specimen), the antlers of adult male giant deer spanned over 3m and probably meant they preferred the open Dales uplands to the wooded valley floors.
Archived in the Tot Lord collection, Yorkshire.
Megaloceros giganteus upper (maxillary) molar tooth row, from the Victoria Cave hyena bone bed, sealed by a large piece of flowstone dating to 115,000 BP. Source: O’Connor and Lord (2013) Cave Palaeontology
Photography & 3D modelling by Hugh Fiske for DigVentures. Get involved at http://digventures.com
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