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Cave of discovery

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Hundreds of fossil teeth and bones from exotic animals found in a cave in North Yorkshire were among the very earliest pieces of scientific evidence to challenge the traditional view of Biblical creation.

Kirkdale Cave was discovered in 1821 and when scholars investigated, they found enormous number of bones and teeth from animals such as elephants, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, hyenas, bison and giant deer.

At the time the accepted explanation for this was that the animals had died and been washed into the cave as a result of Noah's Flood of the Bible.

But when professor William Buckland visited the cave, he quickly recognised the fossils were the remains of an ancient hyena den and said the bones were the remnants of the hyenas' meals.

His book, Reliquiae Diluvianae, argued that these exotic animals lived in Britain in very ancient times, in a climate like that of Africa's today. It was a revolutionary idea at the time and upset many in the church. Decades later the bones were dated to about 125,000 years ago.

Stuart Ogilvy, assistant curator of natural sciences, said: "The importance of the Kirkdale Cave material should not be under-estimated. Cave material of this nature is still the exception rather than the norm and such as both national and international importance."

The remains were regarded as so important that it provided the impetus to create the Yorkshire Philosophical Society to care for them. The society opened the Yorkshire Museum in 1830.