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Home » Articles » Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire » Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire

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  • This image shows seven handaxes all made out of volcanic rock, each is about 10cm long. Volcanic rocks are coarse-grained and so do not flake as well as flint. In consequence the finished tools have a slightly crude appearance to them. These tools were discovered during recent excavations at Pontnewydd Cave.
Early Neanderthal hand-held axes
  • This image shows an upper jaw fragment of a child aged about 11 years with a worn milk tooth and a permanent molar still in place in the jaw. This comes from an early Neanderthal found during excavations at Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire.
Early Neanderthal jaw fragment, c. 230,000 years old
  • This image shows the main cave entrance at Pontnewydd. The cave was used as an ammunition store during the Second World War and it was to prevent access to the ammunition that the stone wall was constructed across its face. Today the wall protects the bats that live in the cave as well as the surviving archaeological deposits. Excavation of these deposits has produced the earliest evidence for occupation in Wales.
Pontnewydd Cave, home to Wales' earliest known settlers, c. 230,000 years ago