Grid reference: SN 08957 32973. Altitude: 275m. Grassland sloping northwards. The features are identified with the letters used by Peter Drewett in his original sketch plan, but three additional features are now identified. There seem to be ten hut circles.
The ford, seen from the west. The old fence posts and fencing wires were put there to protect a water supply tank and sluice just to the left of the photo.
The steep-sided valley of the Afon Pennant, just to the north of the settlement site.
Two of the hut circles with walls c 50 cm high, and now well turfed.
Traces of terracing or platforms constructed at the outer (northern) edge of the site.
I'll repeat the Dyfed Archaeology record here, for convenience:
DYFED ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST
REPORT NO. 2009/63 PROJECT RECORD NO. 96851
Mawrth 2010 March 2010
SCHEDULING ENHANCEMENT PROJECT 2010: PREHISTORIC SITES FIELDWORK – PEMBROKESHIRE
By F. Murphy, M. Page, R. Ramsey and H. Wilson
Archwilio record:
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record.xhtml
Description:
PRN 14373 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS
SUMMARY A settlement complex including at least seven hut circles surrounding a square enclosure and yard, situated on the northeast facing slope of Banc Llwydlos.
LONG DESCRIPTION A settlement complex including at least seven hut circles surrounding a square enclosure and yard, situated on the northeast facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 270m above sea level. Indentified from aerial photography in 1990, 2009 saw the first site visit and this recorded a settlement complex of possible prehistoric date. The complex includes seven hut circles that are spread around a small square shaped enclosure. The square enclosure measures approximately 6.0m E-W by 5.0m and has an entrance on the north. The entrance leads out to a small 'yard' area that has an opening on the east into a larger rectangular 'yard' area measuring 18m E-W by c.6.0m. These yards appear to have been constructed on a platform to create a level area on the sloping ground, and much of the settlement has the appearance of being somewhat terraced into the hill slope. The hut circles vary from 5.5m to 3.5m in diameter. All the features are defined by low, spread, stony earthen banks that have an average height of 0.3m and an average width of 1.3m. All the banks are grass covered and many have large stones protruding through the turf.
REPORT NO. 2009/63 PROJECT RECORD NO. 96851
Mawrth 2010 March 2010
SCHEDULING ENHANCEMENT PROJECT 2010: PREHISTORIC SITES FIELDWORK – PEMBROKESHIRE
By F. Murphy, M. Page, R. Ramsey and H. Wilson
Archwilio record:
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record.xhtml
Description:
PRN 14373 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS
SUMMARY A settlement complex including at least seven hut circles surrounding a square enclosure and yard, situated on the northeast facing slope of Banc Llwydlos.
LONG DESCRIPTION A settlement complex including at least seven hut circles surrounding a square enclosure and yard, situated on the northeast facing slope of Banc Llwydlos at 270m above sea level. Indentified from aerial photography in 1990, 2009 saw the first site visit and this recorded a settlement complex of possible prehistoric date. The complex includes seven hut circles that are spread around a small square shaped enclosure. The square enclosure measures approximately 6.0m E-W by 5.0m and has an entrance on the north. The entrance leads out to a small 'yard' area that has an opening on the east into a larger rectangular 'yard' area measuring 18m E-W by c.6.0m. These yards appear to have been constructed on a platform to create a level area on the sloping ground, and much of the settlement has the appearance of being somewhat terraced into the hill slope. The hut circles vary from 5.5m to 3.5m in diameter. All the features are defined by low, spread, stony earthen banks that have an average height of 0.3m and an average width of 1.3m. All the banks are grass covered and many have large stones protruding through the turf.
That's a pretty good description, and I have little add apart from saying that the small square enclosure is not necessarily the focal point of the settlement. Because the whole site is so old, the walls are well covered with turf, and in some places it is difficult to know what is man-made and what is natural. Only excavation will reveal the truth. But what I quite like here is the "planning" of this communal site, with passageways and yards, and platforms or terraces as well. It's not a defended site, and there are no traces of ditches or embankments.
How old is the settlement? I suppose that it might have been occupied over a long period, but the best bet might be that it originally dates from the Bronze Age or maybe earlier........ the Iron Age sites that we know about tend to be larger and heavily fortified (as at Foel Drygarn, Carn Alw and Carningli), or in places where farming could take place. But here hunting, gathering and stock grazing were the only options.
If MPP or anybody else wants to come and do some digging in this area in the next few years, please come and do it here, so that we can start to get a handle on what was going on in the good old days when building with stone was the great thing..........
PS. Here are a couple of reconstructions of Neolithic dwellings. There are now plenty of them in outdoor museums and heritage centres (Stonehenge is just one) across western Europe.
At Banc Llwydlos we have bouldery terrain, and so the hut builders have naturally used boulders and cobbles to provide the foundations for the timber posts, and also extra protection /insulation in this rather windy environment.
There's a good chance that those are the stone foundations of structures built in wattle and daub with thatched roofing. As Giraldus Cambrensis claimed that the Welsh lived in round houses in his day in the late 12th century, these structures could be more recent that one might think of course. AS you say, excavation is the only way to answer that question.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul -- yes of course. Most Neolithic house reconstructions show wattle and daub and thatched roofs. Conical or domed? I have seen some discussion of how the builders (either in prehistoric times or more recently) might have adapted to very windy locations....... I suppose the rings of big stones provided stability and some degree of extra protection the the timber structure and wattle and daub walls. There does seem to have been continuity of use in other sites, as at Rhos y Clegyrn, Clegyr Boia and Carn Goedog -- settlements used in the Age of the Saints or in the early medieval period seem to be on the same sites as Neolithic / Bronze Age ancestors. The builders of the cromlechs and the people who put up standing stones and stone rows must have lived somewhere-- and no doubt those sites will be found in due course...... maybe we should hassle Dyfed Archaeology to get back to Banc Llwydlos for some serious digging? After all, they seconded Duncan Schlee to all the digging at those two crazy "bluestone quarrying" sites.......
ReplyDeleteAny comment on continuity of settlement at the
ReplyDeleteNeolithic site west of
Saint david's, clegyr boia? On my "must visit next time" list....
I wonder what happened to all the hundreds of containers of material removed from Rhos-y-felin. It appear that everything that does not fit the narrative is buried in the cellars of some university somewhere. While archaeology in UK is in this shambolic state I would prefer to leave the remaining remains undisturbed.
ReplyDeleteSome cultures, before the advent of metal tools to make wooden stakes, used stones and turf sods to hold down the edges of their animal skin tents/tipis. If these sites were to be excavated all that would remain would be the ring of stones and post holes with a hearth possibly in the centre if the tent was used in Winter.
ReplyDeleteChris -- yes, I wonder too....... everything inconvenient has mysteriously disappeared. Actually, most of the inconvenient stuff from the dig itself (or sediment that was of geomorphological interest but not archaeological interest) was just dumped onto the vast spoil heap at the edge of the dig. I published some photos of it at the time. Everything about the quarrying research has been selective -- selective sampling, selective citation of results, selective sediment analysis and so on and so on...... I agree that there should be concerns about what will happen if the Banc Llwydlos settlement site is excavated -- but if it isn't how will we ever get to know what the settlement history of the area might be?
ReplyDeleteGordon -- quite so. But I suppose archaeologists look for hearths and hope that there will be bone remains, charcoal etc and possibly even tools left behind. Some small clues are better than none......
ReplyDeletehttps://www.chrisjohnson.nl/Neolithic/CRF2013/i-ktt5XWw/A
ReplyDeleteIf
ReplyDeleteMichael pied piper and those hypnotised followers of his that are lured byt his seductive tones to North pembs, and he does another excavation without due considerarion for the restoration of the landscape after excavation,
I think he should get the environmental equivalent of the footballers red card. We look back in time a couple of hundred years in our country, and we criticise early nineteenth century gentlemen diggers for their so - called primitive methods of non - technique, but what about what has gone on to there?
Fabulous images Chris!! Thanks for sharing.....
ReplyDeleteTony -- yes, I agree. The digs at Rhosyfelin, Carn Goedog and Waun Mawn leave a lot to be desired -- and now the so-called discoveries -- and the truth -- are buried. Such is the way with archaeological digs -- but thank God that we do not have to believe everything that we are told by those who did the digging about what was in those pits and what it all meant. It would be excellent if Dyfed Archaeology could dig at Banc Llwydlos -- with due respect for the environment and free of such encumbrances as ruling hypotheses and all-embracing wondrous narratives.......
ReplyDeleteHear, hear, let's start a crowd funding exercise for
ReplyDeleteDyfed archaeology to get priority, rather than the equivalent of a multi - national company based in
London, for such excavations in West wales.
We have to be guardians of the
ReplyDeleteEarth, including locally and in specific historical contexts.We can all do our but in our own corners, so to speak.
Are we willing to be the 2020 equivalent of the 19391945
Home guard!?
Gordon -- these banks and lines of boulders are too big and heavy to have just been used for lining the edges of tents. maybe that would be feasible for something with a diameter of c 10m -- but these are quite small dwellings or storage sheds, mostly about 5m diameter.
ReplyDelete