'Mind-blowing' ancient bones discovery sparked by family holiday

'Mind-blowing' ancient bones discovery unearthed during family holidayTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.This video can not be playedFigure caption, The "once in a lifetime" discovery could rewrite history, researchers sayByGreg Davies and Tink Llewellyn, BBC WalesPublished16 July 2026Updated 35 minutes agoA series of "remarkable" archaeological discoveries - which experts say could rewrite Britain's prehistory - were discovered by accident on a family holiday, according to the man who made the finds.John Bolton, an archaeologist, was visiting the 11th Century Pembroke Castle in 2010 when he heard there was a cave beneath it.His interest grew when he discovered that the cave, known as Wogan Cavern, showed little signs of previous excavation - so he "badgered" Dr Rob Dinnis, from the University of Aberdeen, to take a look.Small digs have since uncovered "extremely rare" evidence of early humans and animals - including the bones of a hippopotamus which roamed Wales 120,000 years ago.The University of Aberdeen will now lead a larger five-year exploration of the site, which archaeologists hope could reveal "a great deal about our early prehistoric forebears".Image source, John BoltonImage caption, John Bolton now works on the archaeological excavation at the site"It was by accident, really," said Bolton, who described the cave as "huge" and "unlike any other" he had seen in the UK in terms of its archaeological potential."[I] saw the castle, and then heard that there was a cave under it, so that automatically piqued my interest."I noticed, very low down, there was an old calcite floor. So it suggested that, if anything had been removed in the past, it was very little."Bolton then visited Tenby museum and noticed that there was a small collection of stone tools from the cave."I thought, if that's here, [then] the Paleolithi...