Wookey Hole Caves Age, possibly around 250-300 BC, while nearby Hyena Cave was occupied by Stone Age hunters. Badger Hole and Rhinoceros Hole are two dry caves on the slopes above the Wookey ravine near the Wookey Hole resurgence and contain in situ cave sediments laid down during the Ice Age. Just outside the cave the foundations of a 1st-century hut have been identified. These had been built on during the Roman era up to the end of the 4th century. In 1544 products of Roman lead working in the area were discovered. The lead mines across the Mendips have produced contamination of
Wookey Hole Caves system that is formed within the Dolomitic Conglomerate is characterised by shallow loops linking low bedding chambers, or tall narrow passages, known as 'rifts', developed by phreatic solutional enlargement of fractured rifts. The streamway in the inner part of the system formed within the limestone is characterised by deep phreatic loops reaching depths as much as , with the water flowing down-dip along bedding planes and rising up enlarged joints. In the far reaches of the cave the passages descend to below sea level. Witcombe suggests that the name "Wookey" is derived from the Celtic (Welsh) for 'cave', ""Ogo"" or