King Arthur's Cave

King Arthur's Cave is a limestone cave with a double interconnected entrance and two main chambers located in an area of limestone cliffs that were formed 345 million years ago. The caves in this area were cut into the rock by a river flowing along the base of the cliffs. Over time the river dissolved the limestone to form King Arthur's Cave and others.

There is evidence that the cave was inhabited from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Age period. Bones found during excavations suggest that humans sat around a fire eating red deer about 12,000 years ago. Flint tools and pottery from the Neolithic period were also found in the cave.

The cave was excavated in 1871 by Reverend William Symonds. He unearthed bones from lion, giant deer, hyena and bones of ice age animals like woolly rhinoceros, cave bear and woolly mammoth.

In the Victorian Era the cave was known as Hyena's Den. It's unclear why its name was changed to King Arthur's Cave. The cave is located in a nature reserve near Symonds Yat in the English county of Herefordshire.

King Arthur's Cave is part of the Doward Living Landscape.



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