OLD bones found in caves in the Yorkshire Dales have overturned theories about the extinction of one of Britain's hunting cats.

Experts had believed that the lynx became extinct in the UK more than 4,000 years ago when the climate cooled and became wetter.

But carbon dating funded by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) on bones found in the Dales suggests the cats were still around in the early medieval period some 1,500 years ago.

One theory is that they were perhaps hunted to extinction or lost their territory as farming intensified and woodland areas were reduced.

The bones were discovered up to 100 years ago, but have only just been carbon dated, according to YDNPA senior conservation archaeologist Robert White.

"The findings do surprise us in that the lynx became extinct 2,500 years later than we thought," he said.

"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 findings also highlight the importance of keeping archaeological collections safe for future research using more advanced technology."

An article about the results of the carbon dating, co-written by Langcliffe farmer Tom Lord, was published on Monday on the website of the Quaternary Research Association.

Mr Lord said: "It's wonderful that the national park authority has funded this work - it is of national significance.

"Craven has the greatest number of lynx records of any of the limestone cave areas of Britain - nine of the 25 British cave sites that have yielded lynx bones are in the area."

He said four bones were found in Moughton Fell Fissure Cave near Settle before it was destroyed by quarrying in the late 19th century.

One was submitted for radio carbon dating as part of a cave research project supported by the national park authority and showed the animal lived in Roman times between AD80 and AD320.

Excavations at Kinsey Cave, near Giggleswick, in the 1920s and early 1930s found bones from a lynx which probably lived between AD425 and AD600 - making it the latest to have roamed in the area.

Mr Lord said: "What this means is that you can be fairly certain that the lynx became extinct in the medieval period due to humans. This is considerably later than was previously thought."