prehistory

Al-Shamahi takes her story up to the invention of writing, where prehistory may be said to end.

"This is yet more fascinating evidence for Stonehenge's link with south-west Wales, where its bluestones come from," said Michael Parker Pearson, professor of British later prehistory at University College London.

A spokesperson said the discoveries had helped shed light on how the caves were used by those who lived and farmed in the Dales prehistory.

For prehistory fans, the Miocene, with its fantastic mammal life, is an immensely attractive period.

They spotted the apparent fossils in two parcels and sent them to be examined by a prehistory museum in the nearby city of Menton.