Underground Caves collection by Artist Janet Watson

My inspiration for this collect called "Underground Caves" is from when I visited Wookey Hole caves in Somerset, in the South of England, when I was younger I went on holiday with my family to this area :) I think caves are fascinating and as I have studied earth science learning about where crystals are formed and come form :) I am really enjoying creating these as each one is so, so different on how they turn out :) A lot of caves have holes and caverns, I have worked on this idea in my art to bring you depth and well crafted holes in my artwork :) 
This art is being shown at Malt Kiln Farm Shop, Stretton-under-Fosse, Warwickshire :) If you are interested in the art please contact me :)

Somerset, in the South of England, is a land of mysteries. Here at Wookey Hole, where a river flows out of the underworld. 

When you visit Wookey Hole Caves your guide will relate the 50,000 year history of the caves as home to both humans and animals. Archaeologists’ finds indicate man has lived in and around the caves for 50,000 years.

For people in ancient times, the caves at Wookey Hole were a safe and even comfortable place to live. They were dry, easy to defend, warm in winter and cool in summer.

Cave History
The bones of tropical and Ice Age animals, such as rhinoceros, bear, mammoth and lion, were found in the Hyena Den, along with flint tools.

Archaeologists reckon that the cave was occupied by hyenas and man alternatively between 35,000 and 25,000 BC.

It seems that packs of hyenas drove their prey over the cliff edge and then ate the remains. There is even a theory that early man may have done the same!

The Caves Today

Today the caves are home to different animals. Horseshoe bats hibernate in the caves during the winter and sleep there at other times of the year.

There are no fish but divers have seen frogs, eels and freshwater shrimps in the underground waters. Insects such as moths and mosquitoes spend their winters in the caves.

Cave History
They are food for the only creature that lives there all the year round – the cave spider.

The Wookey Hole Caves site has provided rich pickings for archaeologists and anthropologists over the years, and several exciting excavations have been undertaken.

In 1912 an archaeologist Herbert Balch found the almost complete skeleton of an old woman, the remains of some goats, a dagger, some household items and a polished alabaster ball among Iron Age remains.

Workmen digging the canal in 1857 found the remains of prehistoric man, including flint tools, as well as the bones of animals such as hyenas, mammoths, rhinoceros and lions.

Many of these are now on display at the nearby Wells City Museum, but most were retained and are now housed in Wookey Hole Cave’s very own museum.

Ref: www. wookey. co. uk /cave-history/

Allrights reserved and all copyright belongs to Janet Watson Amber Feng Shui Art :) None of my artwork is to be copied unless in a letter hand written by me :)