Introduction
Paviland Cave (also known as Goat’s Hole), Gower, Swansea, Wales, is a cave site with a long history of occupation both before the Last Glacial Maximum and again after it. The cave is famous for the excavation by William Buckland in 1823 of the skeleton of a young adult male with associated grave goods.
Definition
Paviland Cave lies on the southern coast of Gower in South Wales. The cave has been extensively excavated many times since the first discovery of finds within it in 1822. The most recent excavations took place there in 1996. The cave has become well known for the discovery of the skeleton known as the “Red Lady” of Paviland Cave which has been the focus of interest in the site since its discovery over 200 years ago. Now dated to around 34,000 years ago, the “Red Lady” can claim to be one of the oldest burials of an evolutionary modern human anywhere to have been associated with manufactured grave goods.
Key Issues
Excavations first took place in Paviland Cave in...
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References
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Walker, E.A. (2020). Paleolithic Archaeology of Wales: Paviland Cave. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_2139
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