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<< Text Pages >> Goldsland Wood Cave - Cave or Rock Shelter in Wales in South Glamorgan

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 01 September 2005  Page Views: 12908

Natural PlacesSite Name: Goldsland Wood Cave
Country: Wales County: South Glamorgan Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Cardiff  Nearest Village: Wenvo
Map Ref: ST109719
Latitude: 51.439062N  Longitude: 3.283293W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3
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Students from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) have discovered 5000 year old human remains in Goldsland Wood cave in the Vale of Glamorgan, in South Wales, and are set to uncover the mysterious rituals they used to bury the dead. The site is less than a kilometer from the well known St Lythans burial chamber.

The remains were found by students studying on the BSc (Hons) Archaeology course working on the Goldsland Wood site, near Wenveo, as one of their four week placements on archaeological research projects.

The students excavated remains of seven humans in a large pit in the mouth of a cave. The remains were found with a flint saw-blade and other stone tools, pieces of pottery, a bone pin, part of a jet bead and belt fastening.

Dr Rick Peterson, Subject Leader for Archaeology at UCLan, said: “The style of pottery and the flint saw-blade suggested that the remains date to around 3000 BC, which means they are over 5000 years old. We also discovered a smaller pit containing the ash from a cremation pyre, but little sign of the cremated body or any evidence where the cremation took place.

“Other human remains have been discovered in caves roughly around this period, from the Nolithic or New Stone Age, but almost all of them were identified years after excavation.

“The Goldsland caves have never been excavated before. We went there hoping to find undisturbed evidence for whatever ritual took place 5000 years ago that led to peoples’ bones being put in caves and we seem to have found it.”

He explained: “At the moment our understanding of these rituals is that first the large pit was dug, probably to make the small cave mouth look much bigger and more impressive. Then the dead were placed in the pit with some of their possessions such as pottery and stone tools. Then once the bodies had become skeletons it seems that most of the bones were then moved to other ritual sites, like the nearby chambered tomb of St Lythans. The pit containing the ash from a cremation is evidence for a different sort of rite - although it probably took place around the same time.”

Rick and his team are carrying out a detailed study of the bones and teeth from the site to try and understand as much as possible about both how these people lived their lives and what precisely happened to their bodies after they died.

Rick added: “Now that we know how well preserved the evidence is at Goldsland we will be going back next year to investigate a much bigger area of the pit and cave mouth. This should give us more human remains to investigate and, even more importantly, much more evidence about how they ended up in the caves.”

The grid reference given is actually of the Goldsland Wood Roman Lead mine, with continued use in the medieval and post-medieval periods.

More: University of Central Lancashire
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
ST1071 : Public footpath along the edge of Goldsland Wood by John Light
by John Light
©2010(licence)
ST1071 : Stile on the edge of Goldsland Wood by Jeremy Bolwell
by Jeremy Bolwell
©2011(licence)
ST1171 : Small ploughed field near Burdonshill by Jeremy Bolwell
by Jeremy Bolwell
©2011(licence)
ST1171 : Footpath on the edge of Wenvoe Golf Club by Jeremy Bolwell
by Jeremy Bolwell
©2011(licence)
ST1071 : Cattle in a field by Michael Parry
by Michael Parry
©2008(licence)

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 901m WNW 295° St Lythans* Chambered Tomb (ST10097230)
 1.6km N 10° Marsyd Round Barrow(s) (ST11217352)
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"Goldsland Wood Cave" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Excavations in Goldsland Wood, Wenvoe, Vale of Glamorgan 2005-2007 by Andy B on Monday, 24 February 2014
(User Info | Send a Message)
Excavations in Goldsland Wood, Wenvoe,Vale of Glamorgan 2005-2007
Draft Interim Report
Stephen Aldhouse-Green and Rick Peterson

Goldsland Wood is an area of deciduous woodland in the parish of Wenvoe on the Vale of Glamorgan. The wood grows on a low limestone ridge running approximately east-west for 2.5 km. Crossing the east end of the ridge are two steep-sided and narrow valleys running north to south: Cwm Slatter and Cwm George. Between 2005 and 2007 the Goldsland Caves Research Project investigated deposits outside small caves and rock-shelters in both these valleys. At Wolf Cave (Site A, NGR ST 1108 7182) in Cwm Slatter and George Rock Shelter (Site G, NGR ST 1121 7151) in Cwm George disarticulated human remains associated with Neolithic pottery and some worked stone were discovered. At Site B (NGR ST 1105 7179) in Cwm Slatter there were lithics and Early Bronze Age pottery associated with animal bone. Radiocarbon dates on human bone show Early Neolithic activity at George Rock Shelter and Early Bronze Age and early medieval activity at Wolf Cave.

http://www.academia.edu/2359225/Aldhouse-Green_S._and_Peterson_R._2013._Excavations_in_Goldsland_Wood_Wenvoe_Vale_of_Glamorgan_2005-2007._UCLan_Unpublished_excavation_report
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Goldsland Wood Cave by Anonymous on Sunday, 23 October 2005
An equal amount of students from the University of Wales Newport aided in this excavation. Finally some credit!
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Goldsland Wood Cave by Anonymous on Tuesday, 07 March 2006
    Students FROM South Wales (UWN) played an equally important role in this excavation, even though they recieved no finance.
    [ Reply to This ]

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