• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Cave Hidden Under Welsh Castle Could Hold 10,000-Year-Old Secrets

Nemo

Go away, leave me alone, nemo is home
Joined
May 10, 2006
Messages
1,288
Cave hidden under Welsh castle could hold secrets dating back 10,000 years.

Archaeologists have found bones of reindeer and woolly mammoth in the limestone cave.

A cave hidden beneath one of Wales' finest castles could hold secrets dating back to the Stone Age, experts think. Wogan Cavern, a limestone cave beneath Pembroke Castle, is set to be dug up by a team of archaeologists who are hoping to uncover fresh evidence of how the cave was used by humans and Ice Age animals thousands of years ago.

A team of up to 20 archaeologists, led by Dr Rob Dinnis of the University of Aberdeen and Dr Jenni French of the University of Liverpool, will begin the three-week excavation at the end of June . Funded by the Natural History Museum and the British Cave Research Association it's hoped they'll uncover parts of the cave that have remained undisturbed for more than 10,000 years.

Preliminary work was carried out in summer 2021 after Dr Dinnis and John Boulton, of the Devon Spelæological Society, realised some important clues of early human civilisation could be hidden under the layers of earth beneath the Pembrokeshire castle famous for being the birthplace of Henry VII. Their suspicions proved correct when they discovered bones of reindeer and woolly mammoth showing it was likely an important place for the Mesolithic period.
(C) WoL.
 
Digging deeper, finding the remains of Ice Age fauna, hoping to find evidence of human habitation in the cave from that era. Vid at link.

Pembroke Castle: The hunt for clues to Wales' prehistoric past​

Beneath Pembroke Castle, a cave is being excavated by archaeologists looking for clues to Wales' prehistoric past. Reindeer and mammoth remains were among the Ice Age artefacts unearthed in Wogan Cavern.

Paleoecologist Elodie-Laure Jiminez called the site "pretty uncommon" as cave sites are not often found.

Devon Speleological Society archaeologist, John Boulton, added: "What we're really looking for is human occupation during the ice age."

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-wales-62072191
 
Back
Top