Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site
The Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site (also known in its unmutated form as Pontnewydd Welsh language: 'New bridge') is an archaeological site near St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales which has yielded one of the earliest known remains of Neanderthals in Britain. It is located a few yards east of the River Elwy, near the hamlet of Bontnewydd, near Cefn Meiriadog, Denbighshire.
Palaeolithic site
Bontnewydd was excavated from 1978 by a team from the University of Wales, led by Dr Stephen Aldhouse Green. Teeth and part of a jawbone excavated in the cave in 1981 were dated to 230,000 years ago. The bone is from a Neanderthal boy approximately eleven years old.[1]
Based on the morphology and age of the teeth, particularly the evidence of taurodontism (enlarged pulp cavities and short roots), the teeth are believed to belong to a group of Neanderthals who hunted game in the vale of Elwy in an interglacial period.[2]
The site is the most north-western site in Eurasia for remains of early hominids and is considered of international importance.
See also
- Prehistoric Wales
- Prehistoric Britain
- List of human evolution fossils
- List of Neanderthal sites
- List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
Notes
- ↑ "Gathering the Jewels". The National Library of Wales. Gathering the Jewels. Retrieved 2015-02-10.
- ↑ Museum of Wales 2007
References
- Stringer, Chris (5 October 2006). Homo Britannicus: The Incredible Story of Human Life in Britain. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9795-8. (alt ISBN 0-7139-9795-8)
- "The oldest people in Wales — Neanderthal teeth from Pontnewydd Cave". National Museum of Wales. September 2007. Retrieved December 2012.
- Pettitt, Paul (August 2002). "When Burial Begins". British Archaeology Magazine. ISSN 1357-4442. Retrieved December 2012.
