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Pontnewydd Cave in Wales—a new Middle Pleistocene hominid site

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Abstract

An Acheulian industry in association with a hominid molar has been found at Pontnewydd Cave. This tooth represents the oldest hominid specimen known from Wales and, except for the Swanscombe fossil, from Britain. The molar is probably from a young adult and the tooth closely resembles those of ‘Early Neanderthal’ fossils from Krapina, Yugoslavia, a comparison accentuated by the degree of taurodontism at both sites. Uranium–thorium and thermoluminescent dates suggest an age for the specimen of around 200 kyr. Uranium relative dating indicates a Pleistocene age for two additional unstratified hominid fragments. Sedimentological study of the deposits and examination of the rock types in the cave, both natural and artefactual, indicates earlier glacial activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology and Numismatics, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, CF1 3NP, UK

    H. S. Green

  2. Department of Palaeontology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    C. B. Stringer, A. P. Currant & T. I. Molleson

  3. Donald Baden Powell Quaternary Research Centre, 60 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PN, UK

    S. N. Collcutt

  4. Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, 6 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3QJ, UK

    J. Huxtable & N. Debenham

  5. Department of Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4M1

    H. P. Schwarcz

  6. Department of Geography, Kings College, University of London, Strand, London, WC2 2LS, UK

    C. Embleton

  7. Christchurch College, Oxford, OX1 1DP, UK

    P. Bull

  8. Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, CF1 3NP, UK

    R. E. Bevins

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  1. H. S. Green
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  8. C. Embleton
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Green, H., Stringer, C., Collcutt, S. et al. Pontnewydd Cave in Wales—a new Middle Pleistocene hominid site. Nature 294, 707–713 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/294707a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/294707a0

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