Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Hole is the largest and the most imposing of all the Welsh caves occupied in the Palaeolithic, though not
the largest and most impressive cave in Gower, and it has been argued that it was a place of spiritual im-
portance and perhaps pilgrimage.
FIG 23 . Goat's Hole, better known as Paviland Cave, the most important of the Welsh Palaeolithic caves. (Harold
Grenfell)
Margaret Hodge for Figures
Todaythecavecanonlybereachedfromthecliffaboveatlowtide,butwhenitwasoccupieditwould
have overlooked, not the sea, but a coastal plain rich in game animals. Over 5,000 finds, of flint, chert,
bone and antler, together with the remains of a rich fauna, have been recovered from the cave. Unfortu-
nately, as described in Chapter 13, the finds were all made before the age of scientific exploration and
most of the remaining archaeological deposits have since been swept out of the cave by the sea. At the
time of the excavations Buckland was the first Professor of Geology at Oxford and as a result the 'Red
Lady' is now on display at the Oxford University Natural History Museum. It is one of many important
cultural artefacts that have been removed fromWales andthe museums inCardiffandSwansea onlyhave
replicas. A campaign was started in 2004 to bring the skeletal remains back to the area, with the intention
of displaying them in Swansea.
For around 15,000 years after the burial in Goat's Hole Gower was too cold for human habitation, but
as the climate became warmer again around 13,000 years ago people returned and the cave sites were re-
occupied by hunter-gather groups whose presence is indicated by tools, made from flint and bone, found
at Cathole and Goat's Hole. The tools are probably indicative of hunting parties right in front of the ice.
These early people had little or no influence on the natural environment, as populations were very small.
In any case this was a world of herbs, grasses, dwarf shrubs and no trees. There were probably fewer than
5,000 people in Britain as a whole at this time and as few as 50 people in Wales. A population of this size
would have consisted of no more than one or two extended families. Indeed it has been suggested that
Palaeolithic people might sometimes have walked for two weeks without meeting another human, except
for members of their own immediate group.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search