11,000-Year-Old Human Remains Found in British Cave

[Peter1469]

That would be near the end of the last Ice Age.

11,000-Year-Old Human Remains Found in British Cave

An astounding discovery in the Heaning Wood Bone Cave in northern England has revealed the oldest human remains found in the region, dating back 11,000 years. A team from the University of Central Lancashire ( UCLAN), uncovered evidence of human activity in the early Mesolithic period, shedding new light on the technologies and cultural habits of our ancestors.


Lead archaeologist Martin Stables says the cave was inhabited in the early Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age) when Homo sapiens , or modern humans, were the only hominid species to roam in the British Isles.


The Heaning Wood Bone Cave in Cumbria was first excavated in 1958 by E.G. Holland and this limestone formation with a vertical shaft has developed into a complex karstic fissure system. The cave was found to contain the preserved skeletal remains of three adults and a juvenile dated to the Early Bronze Age. However, recent excavations by the UCLAN team has unearthed the true antiquity of the cave in a collection of human remains that date back 11,000 years.

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Furthermore, the archaeologists recovered “stone tools, pottery, and shell beads ” from the Cumbria cave. Of particular interest was a tiny periwinkle shell bead. This informed the researchers that the cave’s inhabitants had access to coastal marine resources.


Researchers from the University of Nevada and Pennsylvania State University studied the artifacts and bones. They determined that the cave was used for burials around 4,000-years-ago in the Early Bronze Age and also around 5,000-years-ago in the Early Neolithic. And while both of these dates were somewhat predictable, what came as a big surprise were human bones that carbon-dated to around 11,000-years-ago, in the Mesolithic period.