Dig reveals new insights of long-lost site in Bryn Celli Ddu landscape on Anglesey

Archaeologists have returned to uncover a prehistoric ritual landscape that includes a Bronze Age cairn, believed to be potentially larger than its famous neighbour Bryn Celli Ddu - a 5,000-year-old passage tomb aligned with the summer solstice sunrise on Anglesey.

View of the excavation site at Bryn Celli Ddu in Anglesey
[Credit: North Wales Chronicle]

The famous Welsh passage tomb might not be as recognisable as Stonehenge, but it possesses a similar alignment where the stones line up with the sun on the longest day of summer.

By building the long passage at Bryn Celli Ddu, the sun can creep along it into the far reaches of the inner chamber.

Excavation now suggests that the site had significance for prehistoric people that lasted for millennia after the earth mound was raised over a stone passage chamber.

View of the excavation site at Bryn Celli Ddu in Anglesey
[Credit: North Wales Chronicle]

The monument has an evocative Welsh name, which translates as ‘The Mound in the Dark Grove’ and was first excavated in 1865 and then completely reconstructed in the 1920s, but excavations over the last five summers – with members of the public joining archaeologists – have uncovered a rich landscape of archaeological remains, covering more than 5,000 years of human activity.

The work has uncovered 12 examples of rock art carvings, all in the landscape around Bryn Celli Ddu, along with a pit filled with pottery and worked stone tools.

Excavations this year continue to uncover evidence of a long-lost prehistoric burial cairn just meters away from Bryn Celli Ddu, as archaeologists peel back the layers to reveal the monument.

Pattern stone re-enactment [Credit: North Wales Chronicle]

Radiocarbon dating has given a date of 1,900 BC, with finds of flint tools and a double kerb of large stones, some of them weighing over a tonne each.

Pupils from local primary school Llanddaniel Fab and several others from across Anglesey have been given special access to the site learning about life in their area 5,000 years ago.

Artists are also taking part and responding to Bryn Celli Ddu in new ways. John Abell, a Welsh prizewinning printmaker and artist, is working to create new woodcut prints. Abell’s distinctive motifs, intertwining fact with folk memory has a persuasive sense of storytelling, bringing the past and present alive using a beguiling visual language.

Aerial view of Bryn Celli Ddu [Credit: North Wales Chronicle]

Cadw - the Welsh Government's historic environment service - is offering those with an interest in history the opportunity to learn more about the archaeology of the island.

The Bryn Celli Ddu landscape project is led by Cadw, University of Central Lancashire and Manchester Met University, along with members of the local community and archaeology students.

Author: Suzanne Kendrick | Source: North Wales Chronicle [June 10, 2019]