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.
Contents
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]
The teeth show evidence of taurodontism, enlarged pulp cavities and short roots, which is characteristic of Neanderthals, and although it is not unique to them it is one of the reasons that the species was identified as Neanderthal.[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
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- ↑ Museum of Wales 2007
References
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