Stone tool from Pontnewydd Cave

This 230,000 year old stone tool was made by an early Neanderthal.This handaxe is one of a thousand stone tools found with early Neanderthal remains in excavations at Pontnewydd Cave, Denbighshire. Dating back some 230,000 years, these are the only Neanderthals remains found in the U.K. so far. The maker of this handaxe has been called the first Welshman, since the remains of at least five early Neanderthals were found in the cave and are the oldest human remains to have been discovered in Wales. But did this group travel here from further away? These Neanderthals would have been able to walk across the English Channel at this time and being nomadic, could have followed herds of animals into North Wales. We don't know how many times they returned to Pontnewydd Cave, but they certainly used the cave as a place to make stone tools for their hunting forays, to rest and take shelter and perhaps even bury their dead.

This 230,000 year old stone tool was made by an early Neanderthal.