Aveline’s Hole is both one of the best-known sites with early human skeletal material in Britain and one of the most problematic in its history. First discovered and explored at the close of the 18th century, it yielded an estimated burial count of at least fifty individuals. Twentieth century work suggested a Late Upper Palaeolithic date for the material, in a context that might be called Creswellian. A recent dating programme places the human remains into the early Holocene and confirms the site as a Mesolithic cemetery in all senses of that word. Though a number of partial studies of the material have been published, no full description was attempted or published prior to the destruction of much of the collection in 1940. Recently one of us published a full study of the site history and a description and analysis of the surviving material. However, that study did note the small number of intact but undated crania that have been attributed to the site at various times. This study looks at one of these, denoted as AH9 and never previously described, in the aftermath of direct radiocarbon dating. Both direct dating and indirect analyses indicate that it is highly unlikely that this skull was part of the Mesolithic assemblage from this site.

Sub-samples from two calcite coatings, one adhered to Aveline’s Hole 9 (AH9) cranium (housed in Wells and Mendip Museum) and the other expected to be equivalent but of unconfirmed provenance (housed in UBSS Museum), were provided for high-precision mass-spectrometric U-series analysis. The principal aims of the study were to establish (a) whether the UBSS calcite material was originally attached to AH9; (2) the minimum age of AH9 cranium and (3) the original cave setting for calcite deposition. U-Th isochron methods were used to establish the earliest growth of calcite as AD 1824-1955 for both samples. Measured initial 234U/238U activity ratios for the authigenic calcite coatings are indistinguishable and equal to 2.47, which very strongly supports their equivalence. The possibility of using this ratio to fingerprint the source of dripwaters and, hence, the original location is suggested. However, there is insufficient supporting evidence and there remains the likelihood that ‘Aveline’s Hole 9’ is a misnomer.

A letter from Henry Thomas Aveline containing the earliest known sketch survey of the cave is presented in full for the first time and records the activities at the site by him and his brother, William Talbot Aveline, after whom the cave was named. The letter also provides evidence that by 1843 no human remains appear to have been visible in the entrance passage.

In August 2010 fieldwork was undertaken in the limestone hills surrounding Borsh, Southern Albania. Limited geological observations were made as the discovery of caves not geology was the primary object. A resurgence was identified but no sinks found. A fossil fragment was found and explored to a depth of 20 m. In general the area does not display much evidence of large interconnected cave systems. The modern drainage is likely to be very immature and fed mostly by percolation. Potential for future discoveries is probably limited.

An account is given of the digging and exploration of Palmer’s Cave and associated sites from 1945 to 1989 and the nomenclature of the cave is clarified. A survey of the cave is presented.

In September 2010 an engraving was discovered in Cathole Cave on the Gower peninsula in South Wales which has been interpreted as a possible representation of a cervid. Uranium series dating of calcite which overlays part of the engraving has been dated to approx. 12,500 BP suggesting a possible Upper Palaeolithic date for the figure.