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2 December 2009
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Red Lady of Paviland


Place of Birth:	Could be from Gower
School:	Hard knocks

Famous For: Achieved fame by being red and dead.

Trivia: Oldest known burial in Western Europe.

Biography:

Contrary to initial thoughts - she is in fact he. And in 2007 scientists found that he was older than originally thought - roughly around 29,000-years-old.

In 1823 the remains of the Red Lady of Paviland were discovered by palaeontologist and clergyman Reverend William Buckland, who removed them from the Goat's Hole cave on Gower.

He mistakenly assumed the skeleton was female - as its bones were dyed red - and he identified it as being from Roman times. It has since been confirmed as a male.

The Paviland man was buried with ornaments like shells, ivory, and mammoth bones, and his skeleton was packed with red ochre. Subsequently it was taken to Oxford University - because there was no museum of Wales at the time. It remained there until 2006 when it was agreed in principle that it could be borrowed by Wales.

Paviland man was in fact only aged about 21 when he died and his remains are probably the oldest in Britain - unless you know better of course?

Of course when his body was laid to rest in the cave - the location wasn't quite so coastal at that time. The cave was probably more than 100km from the sea. Land erosion has made it a decidedly more scenic final resting place - and of course at that stage he was interred there Wales was still attached to Europe

Even so analysis shows that his diet would have consisted of fish, the odd bit of mammoth meat and venison - courtesy of the reindeer that would have been living on Gower then.

Moment of Glory: Being found by Rev Buckland?

Off the Record: He may have been a tribal chieftain.

Selina, Rhossili, Gower
The cave may not be much to look at today as Tony of Cardigan pointed out, but we must remember that at the time when the body was burried, the sea was not there. You would have been able to walk across the void which the sea now fills to the the coast of Devon. Bearing in mind the height of the cliffs adjacent to the sea today and the respective depth of the sea, the body must have been burried in a cave which was amongst the highest points visible for miles around.
Mon Dec 10 13:34:11 2007

Liz Fleming
I thought red ochre was associated with neanderthal burials, am I wrong and is it also associated with human? I wonder where they obtained red ochre from? I wonder if the red lady is actually a red neanderthal gentleman!
Wed Nov 7 12:20:31 2007

P. Cuthbertson
It is most probable that the bones would not have been "painted" with red ochre after the flesh had gone, but that red ochre would have been sprinkled over the body just before filling in the grave. The colour is very striking, though, even after thousands of years, which makes me wonder if they sprinkled red ochre knowing that if anyone came across the bones later, the soil around would be stained red as if the colour radiated out from the bones.
Tue May 1 07:31:48 2007

Lawther UK
As Steven B Oppenheimer has shown, by DNA anylisis, most ethnique males in the UK and more so the Welsh, can trace their roots, (80%) to the Basques of coastal western Europe. The Celts are realy a bit of a myth. So based on the fact, the painted lady has all the signs of being a Basque he should be on show in Wales.
Fri Jan 5 08:49:09 2007

Sian Anderson, Dyffryn Rhondda.
Surely, now that we have ample museums to choose from in Wales, the time is right for our 'red lady' to return home, not just on loan, but on a permanent basis?
Fri Oct 13 08:57:22 2006

Tony of Cardigan
I saw this on BBC Welsh News. The bones are a brilliant red. Presumably painted on after the flesh had gone. The cave is not much to look at. You can only get there at low tide.
Thu Oct 12 16:04:42 2006

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