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Bigfoot & Hominids

The Red Lady of Paviland

Gower, Swansea

A skeleton stained red, first thought to be a Roman woman.

In 1823 the geologist William Buckland found a skeleton in Goat's Hole cave, stained with red ochre and buried with ivory and shells. He decided it was a Roman-era woman.

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When
c. 33,000 years ago
Where
51.5500, -4.2500
Group
Bigfoot & Hominids

Visiting

The cave is reached only at low tide over rough rocks. Check tide times.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
From the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

In 1823 William Buckland dug in Goat’s Hole Cave, also called Paviland Cave, on the Gower peninsula near Swansea. He found a skeleton, stained red with ochre.

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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