Pontnewydd Cave
Also known as Bont Newydd Cave
Excavation
T. M. Hughes, 1870s; S. Green, 1978-96.
Curation
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff (83.107H, 84.70H, 86.31H, 87.93H, 88.166H, 89.168H, 93.40H).
Burials
MNI: 7 Palaeolithic 5 (2 adult, 3 juvenile); Holocene 2 (1 adult, 1 juvenile).
Finds
Palaeolithic stone tools, Mesolithic Microlith.
Dates
| Period | Reliability |
|---|---|
| Middle Palaeolithic | Stratigraphical context of human remains indeterminate |
| Mesolithic | 14C date obtained directly on human remains |
| Neolithic | 14C date obtained directly on human remains |
14C
7420 bp (OxA-5819), 4495 bp (OxA-5820) on human bone.
External References
| Royal Commission CARN Database | 306687 |
| Sites and Monument Record | 102132 |
| Scheduled Ancient Monuments | De 116 |
| Cambrian Caving Council Record | 893 |
Bibliography
Aldhouse-Green, S. et al. (1996) Holocene humans at Pontnewydd and Cae Gronw caves. Antiquity 70: 444-447.
Aldhouse-Green, S., Peterson, R. & Walker, E.A. , editors (2012). Neanderthals in Wales. Pontnewydd and the Elwy Valley Caves. Oxbow, Oxford.
Campbell, S. & Bowen, D.Q. (1989) Geological Conservation Review. Quaternary of Wales. Nature Conservancy Council, Peterborough.
Dawkins, W.B. (1874) Cave Hunting. MacMillan, London.
Green, H.S. (1981) The first Welshman: excavations at Pontnewydd. Antiquity 55: 184-194.
Green, H.S. et al. (1981) Pontnewydd Cave in Wales - a new Middle Pleistocene site. Nature 294: 707-713.
Green, H.S. (1984) Pontnewydd Cave: a lower Palaeolithic hominid site in Wales - the first report. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
Green, H.S. (1986) The Palaeolithic settlement of Wales research project: a review of progress 1978-85. In Colcutt, S.N. (ed.) The Palaeolithic of Britain and its Nearest Neighbours: Recent Trends. Sheffield, University of Sheffield, pp. 36-42.
Green, H.S. & Currant, A.P. (1982) Early man in Wales: Pontnewydd Cave (Clwyd) and its Pleistocene fauna. Nature in Wales 1: 40-43.
Green, H.S. et al. (1989) Le site Acheuleen de la Grotte de Pontnewydd, Pays de Galles. L’Anthropologie 93: 15-52.
Green, H.S. & Walker, E. (1991) Ice Age Hunters. Neanderthals and Early Modern Hunters in Wales. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.
Hicks, H. (1886) Results of some recent researches in some bone caves in North Wales. Journal of the Geological Society of London 42: 3-11.
Hughes, T.M. (1885) Notes on the geology of the Vale of Clwyd. Proceedings of the Chester Society for Natural Science 3: 5-37.
Hughes, T.M. (1887) On the drifts of the Vale of Clwyd and their relation to the caves and cave deposits. Journal of the Geological Society of London 43: 73-120.
Hughes, T.M. & Thomas, D.R. (1874) On the occurrence of felstone implements of the Le Moustier type in Pontnewydd Cave, near Cefn, St Asaph. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 3: 387-392.
Kelly, S.F. (1967) As good as new. The Speleologist 2: 20-21.
Mackintosh, D. (1876) On the correlation of the deposits in Cefn and Pontnewydd Caves with the drifts of the north-west of England and Wales. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 32: 91-94.
Molleson, T. (1976) Remains of Pleistocene man in Paviland and Pontnewydd Caves. Transactions of the British Cave Research Association 3: 112-116.
Neaverson, E. (1942) A summary of the records of Pleistocene and post-glacial mammalia from North Wales and Merseyside. Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society 70-85.
Stanley, E. (1832) Memoir on a cave at Cefn, Denbighshire. Edinburgh New Philosophical Society Journal 14: 40-53.
Valdemar, A.E. (1970) A new assessment of the occupation of the Cefn Cave in relation to the Bont Newydd Cave and the River Elwy. Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain 12 (2): 109-112.
Article Author Graham Mullan