PEMBROKE Castle could be sitting on one of the rarest archaeological dig sites in the UK.
The castle’s Wogan Cavern is preparing for the arrival of a team of esteemed archaeologists, who are hoping to uncover fresh evidence of how the cave was used by humans and Ice Age animals many thousands of years ago.
It is hoped that evidence will be unearthed as far back as the Mesolithic period (10,000 years ago), but more exciting than that there is a small hope that artifacts will be found from as far back as the Paleolithic period (12,000 to 50,000 years ago).
There are only a handful of sites in the UK that go back this far, and manager of Pembroke Castle Jon Williams noted none of these sites are located beneath a medieval castle.
“It would be quite rare if we find anything from the Paleolithic period,” said Mr Williams. “It is exciting but all of that is still to be discovered.”
If there is evidence of Paleolithic activity the cave could be designated a site of particular scientific importance.
The forthcoming excavation of the cave, funded by the Natural History Museum and the British Cave Research Association, will take place over a three-week period from June 27.
It will be led by Dr Rob Dinnis of the University of Aberdeen and Dr Jenni French of the University of Liverpool, and will be carried out by a team of 15 to 20 archaeologists.
They will be working in areas of the cave that have remained undisturbed for over 10,000 years.
The current work stems from a longstanding interest in the cave by Rob and John Boulton of the Devon Speleological Society, a core excavation team member who initially realised it merited archaeological investigation.
Last summer a small team undertook a brief excavation. Although that dig was limited in size because of Covid-19 restrictions, enough evidence of early human occupation was uncovered to establish the cave as nationally important for the Mesolithic period (around 10,000 years ago).
The team also unearthed tantalising hints of older material, including bones of reindeer and woolly mammoth.
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This year’s excavation will add to that evidence, improving our knowledge of how the cave was used by stone age humans and prehistoric animals.
Dr Rob Dinnis said he was ‘incredibly excited’ about it.
“Prior to our work, next to nothing was known about the archaeology of Wogan Cavern,” said Dr Dinnis.
“It has long been assumed that the cave was dug out, either during the medieval period when it formed part of the castle, or during the very poorly recorded Victorian antiquarian digs.
“It is now clear that the cave has real potential as an early prehistoric site, and this year’s dig will help us establish exactly what that potential is.”
While the castle will remain open to visitors during the three weeks, Wogan Cavern itself will be mostly closed to the public, although the Castle will be arranging some scheduled information sessions so that castle visitors can meet some of the excavation team and learn about the progress of the dig.
For more information and updates visit Pembroke Castle’s website and Facebook page.
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