Dr Tim Lawson, who has studied animals remains from the Bone Caves, said they got into the cave entrance chambers either by the creatures just walking in, or being carried there by predators.
He added: “The bears show that the caves were important hibernation sites over many thousands of years – we have individual bears dated to 1,700 years ago, 13,000, 26,000 and 45,000 years ago.
“The huge numbers of reindeer present show that Assynt was an important reindeer calving ground, again going back at least to before the last ice sheet grew and covered the land.”
The honorary research assistant at Aberdeen’s Geosciences faculty said the 1880s and 1920s excavations had yielded the largest amount of animal remains from anywhere in Scotland, and date back more than 50,000 years.
He said: “The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, so unauthorised digging is not allowed.
“However, I am now part of a project with the University of Aberdeen’s geography and archaeology departments which is reassessing sites in the region.
“Hopefully we will get permission to do at least some limited re-excavation in the Bone Caves in the next couple of years.”
He added: “Presently we have been looking at radiocarbon dated remains, and extending the dates to new specimens, which is yielding an interesting further twist to the story of the cave deposits.”
