A New Archaeological Survey of Llanmelin Wood Hillfort, Caerwent

Survey in progress by Royal Commission Investigators at Llanmelin Wood hillfort, March 2015. Here GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) technology is used to gather highly accurate 3D data.

A new archaeological survey is in progress at the magnificent Llanmelin Wood Iron Age hillfort, which overlooks Caerwent Roman town in south-east Wales. The Royal Commission is working closely with Cadw to provide a new detailed survey and understanding of this important hillfort to underpin a programme of new management, access and interpretation.

In the early 1930s Llanmelin hillfort was the focus of intense activity. An original survey by Sir Mortimer Wheeler was improved by V. E. Nash-Williams who conducted three seasons of excavation between 1930-32. At the time the hillfort was thickly wooded with virtually no clear sight lines. Nash-Williams excavated many narrow excavation trenches and running sections to explore the hillfort. In 2012 a new community excavation led by Cadw with Archaeology Wales was carried out to recover better artefactual and dating evidence including evidence for occupation into the Romano-British period.

Over 80 years on from the original survey, archaeologists Louise Barker and Toby Driver have returned to make a new detailed record of the fort. This is a site where many questions remain. The main hillfort has massive defences like many in south Wales, but it is flanked by a rectangular annex divided into two main compounds and bounded by massive linear earthworks. The 1930s excavations produced two human skeletons on the peripheries of the annex, an incredibly rare find for any Welsh hillfort. Previous opinion has suggested the rectangular compounds were for keeping stock, but there are few entrances. Reappraisal of the site in the Gwent County History suggested Llanmelin may be a late Iron Age oppidum with high status funerary enclosures – the annex - developed alongside the settlement.

Llanmelin hillfort from the air in 2011, AP_2011_1115.

The new survey has identified previously unknown parts of the hillfort defences, discovered traces of an early phase enclosure within the main hillfort and recorded evidence of alterations or rebuilds to the ramparts. It is also making an accurate record of all the 1930s trenches, documenting management issues like animal burrows and erosion, and shedding new light on all parts of this complex site. When complete this will provide a starting point for a fresh appraisal of one of the most important Iron Age hillforts in south-east Wales.

Louise Barker and Toby Driver
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Castell Grogwynion … Fort of the white … Ceramics?

The Early Mines Research Group supported by Sarahjayne Clements, CBA bursary holder, RCAHMW, and Keith Haylock, PHD Researcher, Geography Department, University of Aberystwyth, excavating Castell Grogwynion Hillfort.

A small excavation was undertaken at the Iron Age hillfort Castell Grogwynion last week in an attempt to identify a potential Iron Age metal working site located on the northern terrace of the fort. Early mines are fairly elusive archaeologically and searching for them has been the focus of over twenty years’ research by the Early Mines Research Group. Evidence of Iron Age metal working is particularly rare in Ceredigion, despite the importance raw materials evidently held for Iron Age material culture.

Aerial Photograph of the Iron Age hillfort, Castell Grogwynion.

The excavation at Castell Grogwynion was the conclusion of a series of surveys conducted on three north Ceredigion hillforts, Castell Grogwynion, Darren Camp and Pen Dinas, for a research project by Keith Haylock at the Institute for Geography and Earth Sciences (IGES), Aberystwth University, in collaboration with The Royal Commission, and with permission from Cadw.

Using a special portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) ‘gun’ Keith can find out what metals are present in the soils of the hillfort, with the aim of finding high concentrations of prehistoric metal working evidence. This equipment has revolutionised non-destructive archaeological identification of early mine areas, through the detection of metal slag and smelting activities.

Keith Haylock, operating pXRF survey.

The results of the Geophysical Survey taken in 2012. Areas of interest are highlighted with red, 1 = the area excavated.

Out of the three hillforts surveyed only Castell Grogwynion, in English “The fort of the white pebbles”, demonstrated high lead readings, which were focused on the terrace. Geophysical survey in 2012 by ArchaeoPhysica LTD further confirmed this concentration.

To test the nature and date of the lead concentration, Dr Simon Timberlake and the Early Mines Research Group, carried out a limited excavation on the terrace at Castell Grogwynion in early October.

The Early Mines Research Group excavating.

Some of the seventeenth or eighteenth-century pottery recovered at Castell Grogwynion.

Rather than an Iron Age smelting site, far more recent evidence of seventeenth or eighteenth-century lazy-bed cultivation was discovered with lead-glazed pottery and other domestic rubbish tipped into the soil. These findings confirmed that a nearby platform and cultivation terraces within the hillfort, first identified by Louise Barker during the new Royal Commission survey, were indeed the remains of a post-medieval upland cottage settlement.

Post Excavation Analysis.

Post medieval cottage settlements are fairly common in the Welsh landscape, however the structural evidence is rarely accompanied by any artifactual remains. Although Iron Age finds were limited to a single sling shot, it was exciting to discover the sheer quantity of pottery uncovered through the excavation, surprising in such a remote location. Further scanning the pottery with the XRF gun revealed the cause of the initial high metallic reading: the glazing of the pottery contained an unusually high lead content.  The leaching of the lead glaze into the soil was hypothesised to have been the most likely cause of the high metallic readings. The discovery of this pottery demonstrated the importance of XRF for archaeological survey ― it can detect vital and less structural remains including spoil heaps and rubbish dumps, where the most significant artifactual data is often recovered.

All in all it was great to be part of this excavation and watch the story of the Iron Age hillfort unfold and exciting to be part of such important research into the varied uses of new and powerful forms of archaeological remote sensing.
 

Kimberly Briscoe and Sarahjayne CBA Community Bursary Holders, RCAHMW, Castell Grogwynion.

By Kimberly Briscoe, Community Archaeology Placement Holder.


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Festival of Archaeology at the Royal Commission 2013

Family fun at the Royal Commission stand

This year’s Festival of Archaeology got off to a great start on Saturday, 13 July, with two Royal Commission events in Penparcau. Throughout the afternoon, visitors flocked to the Penparcau Fête marking the 60th anniversary of Llwyn yr Eos primary school and organised by Penparcau Community Forum. While many children enjoyed special activities at the Royal Commission stand, older residents told their stories and brought old photographs to the People’s Collection Wales officers.

Residents from Penparcau enjoying some of the People's Collection Wales' photographic images of  the Silver Jubilee celebrations, 1977

 Meanwhile a group of intrepid enthusiasts braved the current heat wave to tackle the slopes of Pen Dinas hillfort under the expert guidance of Dr Toby Driver, reaching the summit to enjoy the cool sea breeze and breathtaking views.

Intrepid enthusiasts approach the summit of Pen Dinas hillfort, NPRN:92236

A breathtaking view to behold for all!

Later in the week, as another Festival of Archaeology event, the Royal Commission will be hosting an evening reception and presentation on the life and work of Falcon Hildred, the Blaenau Ffestiniog-based industrial landscape artist. Here, at the Commission’s offices in Aberystwyth, on Wednesday 17 July 6―8pm, there will be an opportunity to view original drawings and an exhibition, and enjoy a talk by Dr Peter Wakelin, Secretary of the Royal Commission on Worktown: The Drawings of Falcon Hildred. Light summer refreshments will be provided and the evening is open to all.

Two views of Pant-yr-ynn Mill  (NPRN: 28620) as drawn by Falcon Hildred

For details on other Royal Commission events for the Festival of Archaeology, please visit our web page.

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Taith Dywys Ar Ben Dinas: Cadarnle O Oes Yr Haearn, Bae Ceredigion

Pendinas: Cadarnle o’r Oes Haearn uwchlaw Bae Ceredigion
Taith dywys wedi’i harwain gan Dr Toby Driver, archaeolegydd a ffotograffydd awyrluniau’r Comisiwn Brenhinol.

Dydd Sadwrn 13 Gorffennaf 2013, 2pm-4pm

Camwch yn ôl dros 2,000 o flynyddoedd i ddarganfod gwreiddiau cynhanesyddol Aberystwyth ar daith dywys i’r fryngaer fwyaf o Oes yr Haearn yn ardal Bae Ceredigion. Darganfyddwch gartrefi’r Celtiaid, a pheirianneg gynhanesyddol y pyrth a’r rhagfuriau ar y bryn arfordirol strategol bwysig hwn.

Cyfarfod ym maes parcio’r Neuadd Goffa, Penparcau, Aberystwyth, SY23 1RZ. Mae’n daith sy’n gofyn am dipyn o ymdrech felly bydd angen gwisgo esgidiau a dillad awyr agored da.

Digwyddiad di-dâl yw hwn ac mae croeso i bawb!

I gael rhagor o fanylion, cysylltwch â Chomisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru
Ffôn: 01970 621200 | e-bost: chc.cymru@cbhc.gov.uk


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New Light On The Iron Age Hillforts Of North Ceredigion, Mid Wales

Announcing a new book published by Archaeopress, Oxford, in collaboration with the Royal Commission, Wales.

The Iron Age hillforts of north Ceredigion (Cardiganshire), mid Wales, are among the most striking and interesting fortifications of pre-Roman Wales. A new book by Dr Toby Driver, of the Aberystwyth-based Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, examines their architecture and landscape settings, to bring a new understanding of the Iron Age communities who occupied this part of mid Wales in the last centuries before the Roman conquest.

Dr Driver explained: ‘This is the first detailed study of the Iron Age hillforts of north Ceredigion since Volume 1 of the Cardiganshire County History published in 1994, and we have made enormous progress since that time in understanding these incredible structures. In their heyday Iron Age hillforts were the most modern and complex buildings Wales had seen. Those which were built in mid Wales are among the most interesting in western Britain.’

Darren Camp hillfort north Ceredigion  AP_2012_1436 - Crown Copyright RCAHMW

This new study examines the dating, architecture and landscape settings of the north Ceredigion hillforts, and also discusses how cultural contact with people living in central Wales and along the Welsh Borders may have fostered new ideas of regional identity and hillfort design.

Dr Driver continued: ‘Some of the largest north Ceredigion hillforts, like Pen Dinas above Aberystwyth, are phenomenal engineering achievements, requiring the excavation of tons of rock and the construction of high walls and gate towers. I hope this new book brings the region’s great hillforts, and the considerable achievements of our prehistoric ancestors, to wider attention.’

With over 200 black and white illustrations, this new book in the Archaeopress series of British Archaeological Reports is a detailed account which showcases the hillforts of north Ceredigion for the first time.

‘Architecture, Regional Identity and Power in the Iron Age Landscapes of Mid Wales - The Hillforts of North Ceredigion’. British Archaeological Report 583. Is available from Archaeopress, Oxford and the Royal Commission.

181 pages. Over 200 illustrations in black and white.
ISBN 9781407311234. £33.00


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