Hippo Bones and Woolly Rhino Found in Medieval Castle Cave in Wales

The Wogan Cavern, accessed via a spiral staircase from Pembroke Castle, measures 23 meters in length and up to 10 meters in height. Initial small excavations between 2021 and 2024 revealed well-preserved bones of mammoths, hippos, and woolly rhinoceroses, alongside stone tools. These findings suggest human occupation, possibly by Neanderthals, and early Homo sapiens, charting a long sequence of activity from hunter-gatherers after the last Ice Age to Britain's earliest Homo sapiens between 45,000 and 35,000 years ago.

Dr. Rob Dinnis from the University of Aberdeen, who directed the initial digs, emphasized the site's unique importance. He noted that the hippo bones likely date to the last interglacial period, around 120,000 years ago, offering insights into how climate and environmental changes affected people over more than 100,000 years. The new excavation project, supported by the Pembroke Castle Trust, is scheduled to begin at the end of May, with all finds to be curated and kept in Pembroke.