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Home » Articles » Pontnewydd Cave, DenbighshirePontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire
A collection of items which were excavated at Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire.
A collection of items which were excavated at Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire.
Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire was excavated by the National Museums & Galleries of Wales from 1978-1995. The excavations revealed the earliest evidence for a human presence in Wales dated to around 230,000 years ago. The humans who lived either in, or in the vicinity of, this cave were an evolutionary early form of Neanderthal with large, powerful jaws and heavy brow ridges. They made and used stone tools including handaxes, scrapers and simple spearpoints. The rocks they selected on which to make these tools included locally available rocks, particularly the volcanic rocks transported to the area by the ice from Snowdonia. Animals they may have hunted for food include horse, rhinoceros, red deer and roe deer. Other wild animals that would have been living in the vicinity of this cave include bear, leopard, lion, wolf and various small rodents.
