Thread by @OwsWills, In 1823, scientists excavating mammoth remains in Paviland Cave, Gower made an [...]

OwsWills

In 1823, scientists excavating mammoth remains in Paviland Cave, Gower made an intriguing find: a partial human skeleton covered in red ochre, accompanied by periwinkle shells and carved ivory.

What they'd discovered changed everything.

The cradle of modern humanity.

THREAD

When William Buckland of Oxford University found the skeleton, he made some assumptions:

Beads & Ornaments = Female ("Red Lady of Paviland")

Red Ochre = Prostitute/Witch

And, since Buckland was a creationist…

Remains can't be older than Biblical Great Flood = Roman

When William Buckland of Oxford University found the skeleton, he made some assumptions: Beads & Ornaments = Female ("Red Lady of Paviland") Red Ochre = Prostitute/WitchAnd, since Buckland was a creationist… Remains can't be older than Biblical Great Flood = Roman

In 2009, radiocarbon-dating proved the bones weren't Roman at all, but were 33-34,000 years old, making the Red Lady the oldest example of a ceremonial burial in Western Europe.

To add more confusion to the mix, the Red Lady of Paviland was also male, probably in his late 20s.

The "Red Lady" is the oldest anatomically modern human skeleton ever found in Britain.

He was 6ft tall and slim - used to covering vast distances on foot.

The bones' red staining is thought to come from red ochre (iron oxide) scattered during burial, or absorbed from clothing.

While Gower is now a coastal area, at the time of the burial, sea levels were 80m lower, and Paviland Cave was 70 miles inland, overlooking a great grassy plain.

Stone age people would have gazed out over mammoths, rhinos, oryx, vast herds of deer, and even sabre-toothed tiger.

The archeologists that followed Buckland found vast numbers of flints on the cave floor, suggesting regular use, even though a few thousand years after the Red Lady's burial temperatures plummeted, and Britain was abandoned, leaving the cave's occupant alone… for millennia.

The Red Lady of Paviland is housed at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Also known as "Goat's Hole Cave," the site—near Pilton—isn't easy to reach!

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