ANIMAL bones found in a Yorkshire Dales cave have overturned theories on the extinction of a British big cat.

Experts had believed the lynx disappeared from the nation's countryside more than 4,000 years ago when the climate became wetter and cooler.

But carbon dating on bones found in a cave near Settle, North Yorkshire, suggests the cats were still around 1,500 years ago in Roman times.

Archaeologists now believe the lynx could have been hunted to extinction or lost their territory as farming intensified and woodland was chopped down.

The bones were discovered about 100 years ago in Moughton Fell Fissure Cave, near Settle, but have only just been carbon dated.

The cave was destroyed by quarrying in the late 19th Century.

The tests were funded by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.

The authority's senior conservation archaeologist Robert White said: "The findings do surprise us in that the lynx became extinct 2,500 years later than we thought.

"The results also provide more evidence to suggest that the landscape was rather more wooded than was previously thought because the lynx like woodland to hunt in."

The Eurasian lynx still inhabits areas of mainland Europe. The cats grow up to 125cm from nose to tail and an adult male can weigh more than 20kg.

Lynx have a distinctive tuft of black hair at the tip of their ears.

The results of the carbon dating will be published today by the Quaternary Research Association.

The report was co-written by Tom Lord, a farmer from nearby Langcliffe. He believes the lynx lived between AD80 and AD320.

He said: "What this means is that you can be fairly certain that the lynx became extinct in the medieval period due to humans."

Nine of the 25 British caves that have yielded lynx bones are in the Yorkshire Dales area.