Many thanks to Chris Rees for these three excellent photos of the three related features out on Brynberian Moor, at Penanty-isaf (Pennant Isaf), Banc Llwydlos and Bedd yr Afanc. I'm happy that they should be grouped together, since they have similar forms and dimensions. Yes, Bedd yr Afanc is better preserved, and the stones are more prominent (most of them can be classified as "standing stones") -- but all three can be described as "wedge shaped" with a long passage widening at one end. There don't seem to be any galleries along the passage, which would justify the use of the term "gallery grave", although I have used this term myself in the past. Now I think the term "passage grave" is better, since this describes a long passage with a "bulb shaped chamber" at one end, far from the entrance, where burials will have taken place. Were the tombs ever finished? Maybe not, since there do not seem to be any traces of discarded or fallen or collapsed stones or of a mound of earth and rubble that might have been called a "long barrow" if we had seen it today. Nothing much was found at Bedd yr Afanc when it was excavated bt Prof Grimes and others many years ago.........
The Banc Llwydlos record:
PRN 100700 NAME BANC LLWYDLOS TYPE CHAMBERED TOMB PERIOD Prehistoric NGR SN0875133233 CONDITION Damaged STATUS FORM Earthwork
SUMMARY A sub-rectangular shaped arrangement of stones set on edge and protruding through a similarly shaped low earthen mound. Possible the remains of a former prehistoric 'passage grave' or 'chambered tomb', it is situated to the east of a stream on a gentle NE facing slope of Banc Llwydlos.
I thought several month ago, Banc Llwydlos was being talked about as a settlement site.
ReplyDeleteNote to self: I must get out there soon, its one of the places I haven't been to.
Dave
Yes, it was and is. There is a lot over there -- far more interesting than Waun Mawn......
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of confusion over the differences between gallery graves and passage graves. In Ireland passage graves were sometimes very sophisticated -- like Newgrange -- with huge circular mounds over the top. Some are associated with ringed embankments and ditches. But there is no sign of these features at the 3 sites mentioned here. Was there even a tunnel with "capstones" acting as a ceiling? Maybe not......... some say gallery graves are older, or maybe younger, and more complex, or maybe less complex....... watch this space.........
ReplyDeleteNewgrange is massive by comparison. Perhaps people were able to cross the sea to visit to wonders of the Boyne valley and brought ideas back, or perhaps a diaspora from Preseli around five thousand years ago, East to Stonehenge and West to the Boyne. I wonder if any Preseli dolerite has turned up in the Boyne valley.?
ReplyDeletePlenty to discover still in Pembrokeshire as you are pointing out.