Dehongli ac ymweld ag archaeoleg Ynys Sgomer

Louise Barker (yn pwyntio) yn gweithio gyda Swyddog Ymwelwyr Sgomer a gwirfoddolwyr o Ymddiriedolaeth Bywyd Gwyllt De a Gorllewin Cymru ar ymweliad diweddar ag Ynys Sgomer.

Mae archaeoleg Ynys Sgomer, Sir Benfro, wedi’i chadw’n arbennig o dda. Ar draws yr ynys gellir gweld olion ffiniau wedi’u creu â chlogfeini, waliau cerrig taclus, a sylfeini tai crwn. Dengys y rhain i lawer o’r ynys gael ei ffermio yn ystod yr Oes Haearn a’r cyfnod Brythonaidd-Rufeinig rhwng 2,000 a 2,500 o flynyddoedd yn ôl. Mae maen hir amlwg, Maen Harold, a megalithau eraill yn awgrymu bod pobl yn byw yma yn llawer cynharach na hyn, yn yr Oes Neolithig a’r Oes Efydd Gynnar.

Tŷ crwn o’r Oes Haearn neu’r cyfnod Brythonaidd-Rufeinig yn y Wick ar Ynys Sgomer. Golwg yn dangos y drws.

Yn sgil arolygon archaeolegol a chloddiadau newydd gan y Comisiwn Brenhinol, ar y cyd â chydweithwyr o Brifysgol Sheffield, Prifysgol Caerdydd a Cadw, mae Ymddiriedolaeth Bywyd Gwyllt De a Gorllewin Cymru, sy’n rheoli Sgomer, yn gobeithio gwella’r arwyddion ar yr ynys a’r wybodaeth am ei harchaeoleg yn ystod 2016.

Tua diwedd Mai, teithiodd Louise Barker a Toby Driver, archaeolegwyr y Comisiwn Brenhinol, i Sgomer i gyfarfod â Leighton Newman, Swyddog Ymwelwyr Sgomer, a Hannah, gwirfoddolwraig ers blynyddoedd, i siarad am archaeoleg yr henebion cynhanesyddol mwyaf gweladwy. Gobaith Leighton a Hannah yw adnewyddu rhannau o Lwybr Hanes Sgomer, a sefydlwyd gyntaf ar ôl gwaith a wnaed gan yr Athro John Evans yn y 1980au.

Mae un o’r tai crwn cynhanesyddol mwyaf hygyrch a thrawiadol yn Sir Benfro i’w weld yn y Wick, yn agos at un o’r prif wylfannau Palod. Gosodwyd arwydd newydd yno i ddangos safle’r tŷ. Gall ymwelwyr gerdded i mewn i sylfeini’r tŷ crwn, drwy ei borth amlwg, a dychmygu’r olygfa ddomestig o fewn ei furiau ddwy fil o flynyddoedd yn ôl.

Un o’r arwyddion newydd sy’n gwahodd ymwelwyr i archwilio’r tŷ crwn cynhanesyddol yn y Wick.

Mae’n bosibl bod gan y tŷ wal o blethwaith a choed a tho conig yn wreiddiol. Er bod coed ar gyfer adeiladu yn brin ar Ynys Sgomer yn yr Oes Haearn, gellid fod wedi cludo pyst, polion a defnyddiau adeiladu eraill i’r ynys ar gwch. Mae’r Comisiwn Brenhinol yn parhau i weithio gyda’r Ymddiriedolaeth Bywyd Gwyllt i godi ymwybyddiaeth o drysorau archaeolegol Sgomer. Os hoffech ymweld ag Ynys Sgomer, ewch i’r wefan: http://www.welshwildlife.org/skomer-skokholm/skomer/

Gan Toby Driver, RCAHMW


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Latest News from the Skomer Island Project - The 2016 Fieldwork Season

Last week, the Skomer Island Project team returned to Skomer to undertake the latest phase of archaeological research on the Island. This year archaeologists Louise Barker and Toby Driver (RCAHMW), Bob Johnston (University of Sheffield) and Oliver Davis (Cardiff University) were delighted to be joined by geographer and environmental scientist Sarah Davies of Aberystwyth University.

Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire is famed for its wildlife and for the survival of its ancient field systems which are amongst the best preserved anywhere in Britain. (© Crown Copyright: RCAHMW, AP_2010_3294)

The aims of this year’s work were twofold; to excavate one of the Island’s main archaeological features, a prehistoric field boundary and the continuation of geophysical survey within the improved fields surrounding the old farm in the centre of the Island.

Despite Storm Katie cutting short our planned four days of fieldwork, we managed to achieve our goals in the two sunny and still days we had and were also lucky enough to witness the return of the puffins.

Archaeological fieldwork involves lots of kit. Getting onto Skomer is always an energetic start to the field season. (© Crown Copyright: RCAHMW)

The site of the excavation. (© Crown Copyright: RCAHMW)

The focus of our small evaluation trench was a substantial lynchet, part of the Northern Field Systems on the Island. A lynchet is a bank of earth that builds up on the downslope of a field ploughed over a period of time and the resulting earth or plough soil is important for helping us reconstruct the environmental history of the Island, identify what was being cultivated and possibly at what date. Therefore, the principal focus of the excavation was to recover samples of the soils within the lynchet which will now be carefully analysed over the coming months.

Excavation in progress. A large number of stones, the result of field clearance, were encountered. (© Crown Copyright: RCAHMW)

Preliminary results from the geophysical survey also look positive. Within the improved fields surrounding the farm in the centre of the Island, there is little evidence for surviving archaeology; however geophysics undertaken in 2012 did reveal sub-surface archaeological features and we wanted to see if this was the case elsewhere. This was indeed the case, and in the area surveyed directly to the west of the farm, the gradiometer detected a linear feature, perhaps a ditch cut by later cultivation ridges.

Geophysical survey in progress with some promising preliminary results (© Crown Copyright: RCAHMW)

As ever the Skomer Island Project team would like to thank the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and the Skomer Wardens for their continued support and help with our work on the Island.

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Excavations on Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire

On Friday, 4 March 2016, Dr Toby Driver FSA of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales will give a talk to the Pembrokeshire Historical Society on the recent excavations on Skomer Island.

Skomer is a highly protected landscape famous for its puffins and other breeding seabirds, but it is also home to some of the best preserved prehistoric field systems and hut settlements anywhere in Britain. In April 2014 a small team of archaeologists was permitted to open the very first modern excavation trench in the island’s history, to retrieve dating and environmental samples to better understand the long and complex history of prehistoric settlement and farming on Skomer. This followed three years of collaborative, non-invasive research between staff of the Royal Commission, The University of Sheffield and Cardiff University, working closely with the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and CADW.

Excavations in 2014 at a prehistoric mound of burnt and fire-cracked stones on north Skomer, once used to boil water for cooking, have produced the first calibrated radiocarbon dates for farming settlement. The mound sealed a land surface dated by charcoal to between 751-408 BC, the early Iron Age. A cattle tooth deposited in the cooking mound was dated to around 85 BC, the late Iron Age.

The talk will look at the special landscape and archaeology of Skomer, and touch upon the other Pembrokeshire Islands. It will take the audience through the challenges and excitement of opening an excavation trench on a windswept island, and what new information this long running project has told us about the history and people of ancient Skomer.

Venue: The Picton Rooms, The County Hall car park, Haverfordwest.
Date: Friday 4 March 2016 at 7.30 p.m.
For further information : ann.sayer@btinternet.com
Members free, Non-members welcome £3 at the door.

Note to editor: The photographs show prehistoric field systems and settlements on Skomer Island. If they are used, please use the following credit: ‘Crown Copyright RCAHNW’


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Syr John Rhŷs a’r Comisiwn Brenhinol (1840—1915): ysgolhaig Cymreig mwyaf ei oes

Manylyn o Syr John Rhŷs o lun o grŵp o Gomisiynwyr, 1913. NPRN: 54624.

Gan mlynedd i heddiw, 17 Rhagfyr 2015, bu farw Syr John Rhŷs, yr ysgolheig ac ieithegwr Celtaidd mawr. Cafodd ei eni ar 21 Mehefin 1840 yn Aberceiro-fach, Ponterwyd,yn fab i ffermwr a mwynwr plwm. Cafodd y bwthyn ei droi’n adeilad fferm yn ddiweddarach ond aeth yn adfail ar ôl yr Ail Ryfel Byd, er gwaethaf apêl i’w ddiogelu.

Ar ôl astudio yn y Coleg Normal, Bangor (1860—61), daeth John Rhŷs yn fyfyriwr yng Ngholeg yr Iesu, Rhydychen, ym mis Hydref 1865. Yna bu ar deithiau ymchwil i Baris, Heidelberg, Leipzig a Gӧttingen. Yn y fan hyn y datblygodd ei ddiddordeb mewn ieitheg ac ieithyddiaeth. Ym 1874 fe draddododd gyfres o ddarlithiau yn Aberystwyth a gyhoeddwyd yn ddiweddarach yn Lectures on Welsh Philology (1877), ble mae’n datgan y ddeddf ieithegol bod y gytsain i mewn Celteg yn dod yn dd yn Gymraeg, ac a elwir o hyd yn Ddeddf Rhŷs. Enillodd enw iddo’i hun yn gyflym iawn fel ysgolhaig Celtaidd blaenllaw a oedd yn arbenigo ym meysydd archaeoleg, llên gwerin ac ethnoleg, yn ogystal ag ieitheg. Cafodd ei benodi’n athro Celteg cyntaf Prifysgol Rhydychen ym 1877. Daeth yn ffigur cyhoeddus amlwg, gan wasanaethu ar lu o bwyllgorau, cynghorau a Chomisiynau, ac roedd yn siaradwr cyhoeddus poblogaidd, yn enwedig mewn eisteddfodau.

Tudalen deitl y Rhestr gyntaf: The County of Montgomery (1911) sydd bellach ar gael fel e-lyfr di-dâl.

Cafodd Syr John Rhŷs ei benodi’n Gadeirydd cyntaf Comisiwn Brenhinol Henebion Cymru ar 10 Awst 1908. Dechreuodd y Comisiwn Brenhinol ar unwaith ar y gwaith o gynhyrchu cyfres o restri sirol. The County of Montgomery oedd y Rhestr gyntaf i ymddangos (1911). Parhaodd yn Gadeirydd hyd ei farwolaeth ar 17 Rhagfyr 1915, pan gafodd ei ddisgrifio gan y papur newydd Llais Llafur fel “the greatest Welsh scholar of our time”.

Bwthyn Aberceiro-fach, Ponterwyd 1952; Adfeilion Aberceiro-fach, Ponterwyd 2015, NPRN: 420775.

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First Modern Excavation on Skomer Seeks to Explore and Date Island’s Prehistoric Settlements

The Skomer Island Project team (L-R), Dr Oliver Davis (Cardiff University), Louise Barker (RCAHMW), Dr Bob Johnston (University of Sheffield), Dr Toby Driver (RCAHMW)

 
A collaborative research project between staff of the Royal Commission, The University of Sheffield and Cardiff University has just completed a third season of fieldwork and research on the renowned prehistoric landscape and national nature reserve of Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire, west Wales. This included the historic, first modern excavation in the island’s history, exploring a mound of burnt stone alongside a prehistoric settlement, which produced flintwork, datable charcoal and the first fragments of prehistoric pottery from the island.

Skomer is a heavily protected landscape famous for its puffins and other breeding seabirds, but it is also home to some of the best preserved prehistoric field systems and hut settlements anywhere in Britain. In 2011 the Royal Commission used airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) to map comprehensively the island’s field systems. This work discovered evidence for a longer chronology to the fields than had previously been thought. The Skomer Island Project built on this work in 2012 with the first use of geophysics on the island, which showed that unrecorded prehistoric fields and settlements survive beneath the modern fields in the centre of the island.

Despite two major studies of the island’s archaeology in the twentieth century, no modern excavation had been attempted. In order to refine a chronology, the team set out in 2014 to undertake the first modern excavation to locate buried charcoal and other evidence suitable for radiocarbon dating and scientific analysis. It was decided to target one of the many substantial mounds of burnt stone in the north of the island, which are found alongside the prehistoric hut groups, thought to have built up from cooking activities. Although few finds were encountered in the mound itself, a sealed soil layer was uncovered a metre down, which yielded charcoal, flint tools and fragments of prehistoric pottery. Excavations were recorded using Structure from Motion, a technique which builds individual photographs into a 3D digital model of the land surface. The hard work of post-excavation now begins to analyse the discoveries and learn more about prehistoric life on Skomer.

Accurately recording prehistoric finds and charcoal samples in three dimensions using GPS.

The Skomer Island Project team would like to thank the Skomer Island Wardens, the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and Natural Resources Wales for accommodating the archaeological work and granting permission to work in a Site of Special Scientific Interest. They are also grateful to Cadw for Scheduled Monument Consent, which allowed the work to proceed. The Royal Commission’s online records for the work can be found here.

By Toby Driver

 Further Reading:

• Geophysical Survey On Skomer Reveals Buried Archaeology ...
  05 Apr 2012
  Skomer Island, located off the south-western coast of Pembrokeshire, is famed for its bird life and puffins, but its relict archaeological landscape of prehistoric houses and fields is among the best preserved anywhere in the ...
•  The Archaeology of Skomer and Skokholm | Heritage of Wales News
  14 Feb 2012
  On Sunday, 19 February, 3.30pm Dr Oliver Davies, a Royal Commission archaeologist, will be giving a lecture to the Skomer and Stockholm Friends Re-union at the Five Valleys Conference Centre, Nailworth. Gloucestershire ...
• Recent Work On Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire | Heritage of Wales ...
  21 Dec 2011
  Skomer Island, located off the south-western coast of Pembrokeshire, is a National Nature Reserve, a Marine Nature Reserve and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, famed for its bird life and puffins, and its relict prehistoric ...

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