Environmental Studies
The flora and fauna of the Palaeolithic varied with the changing climate,
from widespread forest during warmer periods to an open landscape in areas not covered with
ice during glaciations. Bones and teeth of hippopotamus and straight-tusked elephant have
been found at Cefn Cave in Clwyd, dating to the last warmer interglacial, while mammoth
and woolly rhinoceros remains are recorded at a number of Welsh sites including the caves
at Coygan, Carmarthenshire, and Paviland.
Stalactites and stalagmites growing within limestone caves contain a record
of climate changes that can go back thousands of years. As they only accumulate at warmer
temperatures, when there is water flow, periods of warm and cold can be identified in their
growth rates. The level of decay of uranium within the deposits can also be measured to
date these changes of climate. No stalagmite deposition occurred within any cave on the
Gower coast at the time of the Paviland burial, which therefore was a time of increased
cold.
Insect species found within Palaeolithic environmental samples have been
compared to those known today and many insects taken from samples dated to 29,000 years
ago show they were species adapted to cold climates. The most common of these is the Tibetan
dung beetle, nowadays only found on the Tibetan plateau, indicating therefore a time of
increased cold.
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