Ancient skeleton goes on display

The burial site was in Goat's Hole Cave at Paviland on Gower Enlarge Image

A 29,000-year-old skeleton is being displayed in Wales for the first time since it was discovered in a Gower cave in the 1820s.

The Red Lady of Paviland, actually the remains of a young male, is the earliest formal human burial to have been found in western Europe.

It is going on show on Saturday at the National Museum in Cardiff.

Artefacts also include a 13th Century figure of Christ, Bronze Age jewellery, a Viking sword guard and a Roman cup.

All were found at various locations throughout Wales and are brought together for the first time for the exhibition Origins: In Search of Early Wales.

The Red Lady has been loaned to the museum for a year by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

It was discovered at Goat's Hole Cave at Paviland on Gower in 1823 by William Buckland, then a geology professor at Oxford University.

The remains have been on display at Oxford University

Originally thought to be around 25,000 years old, new research recently revealed it dated back another 4,000 years.

Dr Mark Rednap of the National Museum said: "The objects chosen for display are just a small selection of many magnificent objects discovered in Wales.

"The collection and their revised interpretations help us to understand ourselves and Wales today."

The exhibition begins on Saturday, and the museum is open every day except Monday.