|
Cave / Rock Shelter
|
|
|
New information about life in Gough's Cave http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jun/20/ice-age-cannibals-britain-earliest-settlers
A new carbon dating technique ('ultra filtration') has suggested that the cave was colonised very quickly from further south in Europe after the retreat of the glaciers. It was inhabited for a few hundred years c. 14,700 years ago (a shorter time than previously thought), and it was probably only a intermittent retreat, not a permanent home. Human bones from the cave show traces of being butchered just like animal bones, to remove the flesh and marrow (and the brain, tongue and eyes, for those wanting more gruesome detail) - but still, it's not possible to say whether this was due to hunger or cultural practice. After this period the ice returned and Britain was completely depopulated again. Chilly.
|
Posted by Rhiannon
23rd June 2010ce
Edited 3rd April 2016ce
|
|