In 1898 Pierre Demargne conducted brief investigations,P. Demargne, "Antiquités de Praesos et de l'Antre Dictéen" Bulletin de Correspondence Héllenique 26 (1902), pp. 571-583. followed by David George Hogarth of the British School at Athens in 1900 who carried out more extensive operations. Hogarth's reports published in 1900D. G. Hogarth, "The Cave of Psychro in Crete" The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 30 (1900), pp. 90-91; D. G. Hogarth, "The Dictaean cave" The Annual of the British School at Athens 6 (1899/1900), pp. 94-116. give a picture of the destruction wrought by primitive archaeological methods: immense fallen blocks from the upper cave roof were blasted before removal; the rich black earth had been previously ransacked. The stuccoed altar in the upper cave was discovered in 1900, surrounded by strata of ashes, pottery and "other refuse", among which were votive objects in bronze, terracotta, iron and bone, with fragments of some thirty libation tables and countless conical ceramic cups for food offerings. Bones among the ash layer attest to sacrifice of bulls, sheep and goats, deer and a boar.W. Boyd-Dawkins, "Remains of Animals Found in the Dictaean Cave in 1901," Man 32 (1902) Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, pp. 162-65.
