Creswell Crags

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Creswell Crags
Caves at Creswell Crags
Location	Creswell, Derbyshire
Coordinates	53°15′49″N 1°11′38″W / 53.26361°N 1.19389°W / 53.26361; -1.19389
Geology	Limestone

Creswell Crags is an enclosed limestone gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, England, near the villages of Creswell and Whitwell. The cliffs in the ravine contain several caves that were occupied during the last ice age, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago. Its caves contain the northernmost cave art in Europe. The evidence of occupation found in the rich series of sediments that accumulated over many thousands of years is regarded as internationally unique in demonstrating how prehistoric people managed to live at the extreme northernmost limits of their territory during the Late Pleistocene period.^[1][2]

The caves contain occupation layers with evidence of flint tools from the Mousterian, proto-Solutrean, Creswellian and Maglemosian cultures. They were seasonally occupied by nomadic groups of people during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. Evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, Roman and post-medieval activity has also been found there. There is evidence of Neanderthal occupation 50,000–60,000 years ago, a brief Gravettian occupation around 32,000 years ago and use of all the main caves during the Magdalenian around 14,000 years ago.^[3]

The site is open to the public and has a visitor centre with a small museum of objects associated with the caves, including a stuffed cave hyena. As a result of its unique features, Creswell Crags has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).^[4] It has also been put forward as a potential World Heritage Site.