Cave Hunting is William Boyd Dawkins’s pioneering account of the exploration of caves and the evidence they yield about the earliest inhabitants of Europe. A leading geologist and archaeologist, Dawkins describes cave excavations, the fossil animals and human remains found within them, and what they reveal about prehistoric life and climate.
The book was an important contribution to the young science of prehistoric archaeology, helping to establish the antiquity of humankind through the careful study of cave deposits. Dawkins combines geology, paleontology, and archaeology in a clear and methodical exposition. It remains a valuable historical source for understanding how nineteenth-century scientists reconstructed the deep human past from the evidence preserved in caves and bone-bearing strata.