Ancient Cave Under Welsh Castle Could Rewrite Prehistory

A hidden cave beneath an 11th-century castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, is being hailed as a "truly remarkable site" with the potential to rewrite Britain's prehistory. Known as Wogan Cavern, the cave, measuring 75 feet in length and up to 32 feet high, has yielded "extremely rare" evidence of early humans and animals during small digs conducted between 2021 and 2024. Among the significant finds are stone tools and bones from mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and even hippopotamuses, which roamed Wales approximately 120,000 years ago.

Dr. Rob Dinnis from the University of Aberdeen, who directed the initial excavations, will lead a new five-year project to further explore the cavern. Researchers are optimistic that the site will reveal a long sequence of human activity, from hunter-gatherers after the last Ice Age to Britain's earliest Homo sapiens and potentially even earlier traces left by Neanderthals. The well-preserved bones and artifacts suggest the cave is one of the most important prehistoric archives in Britain, offering insights into how climate and environmental changes affected ancient populations over more than 100,000 years.