CPAT Regional Historic Environment Record
The following information is from the on-line database 'Archwilio'.
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Gop Cave, neolithic

Primary Reference Number (PRN) : 102263
Trust : Clwyd Powys
Community : Trelawnyd and Gwaenysgor
Unitary authority : Flintshire
NGR : SJ08648008
Site Type (preferred type first) : NEOLITHIC CAVE OCCUPATION
Status : scheduled monument

Description :
Human skeletons from chamber in rock shelter. Sherds of decorated pottery possibly Peterborough type were found with the skeletons. Also Graig Llwyd axe found near cave entrance.

NMGW record the following: Mesolithic -- flint microlith, 3 chert microliths, 1 chert blade; Neolithic - flint leaf shaped arrowhead (1); Prehistoric - flint scrapers (2); flint flake (4), chert flake (1), flint and chert debitage (1?) (CPAT Lithics, 2001).

Fourteen skeletons were found according to Oldham (1991, 24), with Pleistocene faunal remains in the lower deposits. Some of the human remains and implements are in NMW, human remains and pottery also in the Manchester University Museum (M13), and other human remains are in the private collection of J H Morris, West Bromwich. (Oldham, 1991, 26)

Cullingford (1962, 290) notes that that the skeletons were found in a 'rudely constructed stone chamber against the cave entrance' and mentions further finds in addition to those described above, including two links or studs of shale, a polished flint knife and white quartz pebbles.

The burial contained unusual Late Neolithic artefacts of northern English origin (MacInnes, 1968) which epitomise a new phase in north-eastern Wales, opening up eastwards contacts which are maintained through the Bronze Age (Lynch, Frnaces, 2003).

All of these features are described in more detail by Davies (1949), who provides a plan of the entrance showing the position of the chamber. See also PRN 102261. (Caves Scheduling Enhancement Project, CPAT 2009)

Sources :
Boyd Dawkins, W , 1901 , On the cairn and sepulchral cave at Gop, near Prestatyn , Archaeological Journal : 58 : 322-41
Boyd Dawkins, W , 1902 , On the cairn and sepulchral cave at Gop, near Prestatyn , Archaeologia Cambrensis : 2 : 161-85
Boyd Dawkins, W , 1912 , Certain fixed points in the prehistory of Wales , Archaeologia Cambrensis : 12 : 61-108
Cadw , 1986 , Cadw Field Monument Wardens Report - Fl067(FLT)
Clwyd Archaeology Service , 1979 , Site visit record - PRN102263
Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust , 2002 , CPAT Project Archive - lithics
Council for British Archaeology , 1982 , CBA implement petrology report - Gop Cave, neolithic
Daniel, G E , 1950 , Prehistoric Chambered Tombs of England and Wales
Davies, E., 1949 , The Prehistoric and Roman Remains of Flintshire
Gibson, A , 1995 , First impressions: a review of Peterborough Ware in Wales
Glenn, T A , 1913 , Northern Flintshire
Green, H S , 1980 , The flint arrowheads of the British Isles
Jackson, J W , 1913 , On the occurence of the lynx in North Wales and Derbyshire , Geological Magazine : 10 : 259-262
Lynch, F , 1969 , Flint arrowheads from Minera, Wrexham , Denbighshire Historical Society Transactions : 18 : 147-55?
McInnes, I , 1968 , Jet sliders in late Neolithic Britain
Ordnance Survey , 1959 , OS record card SJ 08 SE 72
Silvester, R. J., & Owen, W. J , 2002 , Early Prehistoric Settlement in Mid and North-East Wales: the Lithic Evidence ( © Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust)
Stead, W H & Bridgewood, R , 1957 , title unknown - Gop Cave

Events :
113237 : Early Prehistoric Settlement in Mid and North East Wales: The Lithic Evidence, desk-based assessment 2002 (year : 2002)

Related records
CPAT Historic Environment Record (HER) 102261

Compiled date : 31-08-1993


Archaeological data, from the Historic Environment Record, supplied by The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust in partnership with Local Authorities, Cadw and the partners of ENDEX © CPAT, 2025 (and in part © Crown, 2025). It is intended to be used for private research only and is not for use as part of commercial projects. If you wish to use this information for publication in printed or multimedia form or to compile resources for commercial use, prior permission must be obtained in writing. Use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of access to HER data published on CPAT's website. Please contact the HER if you have any further questions regarding this information. Please quote the Primary Reference Numbers (PRNs) in any correspondence.

March 31, 2025, 1:15 am - File produced for Archwilio from CPAT's Regional HER.
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust, The Offices, Coed y Dinas, Welshpool, Powys, SY21 8RP
tel (01938) 553670, email her@cpat.org.uk, website www.cpat.org.uk

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