Gough's Cave

Gough's Cave is located in Cheddar Gorge on the Mendip Hills, in Cheddar, Somerset, England [1]. The cave contained skeletal remains of animals and of humans, indicating that the cave was occupied for a relatively brief period by Magdalenian peoples towards the end of the last ice age, when conditions had become warm enough for humans to return to Britain after northern Europe became uninhabitable around the Last Glacial Maximum [1]. Skull fragments represent from 5 to 7 humans, including a young child of about 3 years and two adolescents [1]. The Magdalenian human skulls found at Gough's cave were carefully processed using stone tools to produce "skull cups", likely used as ritual drinking cups or bowls [1]. In 1903 the remains of a human male, since named Cheddar Man, were found a short distance inside Gough's Cave [1]. He is Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, having been dated to the Mesolithic, approximately 10,564–9,915 calibrated years Before Present [1].