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A red deer skull thought to be 4,000 years old has been found in Ceredigion .

Dr Martin Bates and a team of research staff from the School of Archaeology, History and Anthropology at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) in Lampeter are currently examining a large skull and antlers.

The skull was first spotted on the beach at Borth by Julien Culham and Sharon Davies-Culham in early April.

Rather than attempting to remove the skull from the beach they reported it to the Royal Commission in Aberystwyth who in turn alerted Dr Bates who has been working in Borth for many years.

“This is a wonderful discovery that really brings the forest and its environs to light,” said Dr Bates.

“The ‘unhelpful’ tides during the two weeks since the discovery meant that no progress could be made in recovering the find.

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Cleaned and recorded

“Then last Friday an attempt was made to relocate the skull but even at low tide the area of beach containing the find remained under a metre of water.

“Concerns about the possibility that bad weather may cause extensive movement of sand and gravel on the sea bed – resulting in either covering up the find or damaging it – meant that we decided to attempt to relocate the find beneath the water.

“This was only possible because the original site was photographed and an approximate position could be calculated from this information.

“The seabed was searched methodically by feel and touch until, remarkably, the skull was relocated.

“Its position was recorded and the find removed for cleaning and recording.

“Further investigation of the find spot will be made during the next set of low tides in early May.”

The find comes from a large channel cut through the well-known fossil forest preserved at Borth.

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4,000-year age 'likely'

Previously this channel yielded the bones of a large auroch, an extinct form of large wild cattle that once lived in Europe.

This was discovered in the 1960s but has subsequently been lost to academic study.

The forest and peat deposits either side of this channel date to between about 6,000 and 4,000 years ago – the time of the last hunter-gatherers and the earliest farmers in Britain.

“Although the exact age of the skull has yet to be confirmed it’s probable that the channel within which the find was made is contemporary with the forest and so an age in excess of 4,000 years old is likely,” added Dr Bates.

“It is wonderful that this find was reported to us so that we could recover these remains for scientific study rather than it ending up on the wall in somebody’s house, lost to the world much as it has been for the last 4,000 years.”

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Dr Ros Coard, a faunal specialist at UWTSD Lampeter, said: “Animal bones are known to erode out of their original deposits all along the coast of Wales, especially after the winter storms, and are often reported by members of the public. None are as large or as impressive as this recent find however.

“Although the antlers and partial skull still have to undergo full analysis the antlers can be said to come from a very large, mature male red deer.

“The individual was certainly in the prime of his life showing full development of the large antlers.

“They will undergo further analysis at UWTSD in Lampeter.”