The secrets of Paviland Cave | Science | The Guardian

I love this site and the lessons that go with it. The best part are the conclusions that William Buckland the first professor of geology at Oxford University, in 1823 , jumped to when he found this cave and the body it contained. For instance when you find remains of a headless body that was smeared with red ochre (naturally occurring iron oxide) and buried with shells and a few ivory rods. What conclusion would you jump too? Well Buckland initially thought the body was that of a customs officer, killed by smugglers, really... a customs officer?? Then no, he decided it was a Roman prostitute, well we all known what red is associated with. He based this guess on a site above it he wrongly believed a Roman period site, when it was really a lot older, it is an Iron Age fort. This misidentification stuck though and gave the headless skeleton its name, "the Red Lady of Paviland." However there are two things Buckland didn't know, first it not a woman. The remains are those of a young man probably in his late 20s, sadly he is still called the “Red Lady.” Secondly the burial was a hell of a lot older than he thought. The “Red Lady” was buried 34,000 years ago! Here is a great article about the site and the work being done on it today.

The secrets of Paviland Cave | Science | The Guardian