Britain’s earliest mining boom revealed

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on October 15, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Europe, UK, Wales, Western Europe

Britain’s earliest mining boom was far earlier than previously thought after a study of the Great Orme Bronze Age copper mine on the coast of North Wales indicated that large scale copper production took place for a couple of centuries, over 3,500 years ago.

Aerial view of the Great Orme mine site looking south-east towards Llandudno [Credit: © Great Orme Mines Ltd/Antiquity]

Research by Dr Alan Williams, in the University of Liverpool’s Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, reveals that, not only did the mine produce enough copper to dominate Britain’s metal supply for about two centuries but there was enough metal for trading or exchange with Ireland, and across continental Europe from France to Sweden.

The Great Orme Bronze Age copper mine’s extraordinary complex of ancient underground tunnels was discovered in 1987, and nineteen radiocarbon dates suggest that the mine was worked for around eight centuries, from the late Early Bronze Age to the Late Bronze Age (c.1700–900 BC).

More than 2,400 hammerstones have been recovered, along with over 30,000 pieces of bone, many of which were used as mining tools along with bronze tools. Despite the large scale of archaeological remains, it was previously thought that the mine could not have been a major source of metal for Bronze Age Britain because the metal it produced was too low in impurities, compared to the high levels of impurities present in most Bronze Age metal artefacts. It was claimed the mine only became large after being worked on a small scale for a millennia.

Continental distribution map of bronze shield-pattern palstave axes and those analyzed are all consistent with Great Orme metal [Credit: R. A. Williams/Antiquity]

But Dr Williams, and his co-author Cecile Le Carlier de Veslud at the Universite de Rennes, sought to prove otherwise. They created a methodology based on extensive sampling and analysis of ores from the Great Orme mine and combined this with smelting experiments, to establish the chemical and lead isotopic ranges of the metal the ores would have produced and then compared them with existing databases of Bronze Age artefacts.

They were able to define chemical and isotopic ‘fingerprints’, which identified that the artefacts are consistent with Great Orme metal (for example, shield-pattern palstave axes) and the period during the Bronze Age when the metal was dominant.

The results suggest there was a ‘golden age’ of ore production at Great Orme, c. 1600–1400 BC, followed by a ‘twilight period lasting many centuries’, during which only small amounts of ore were produced after the two richest areas had been exhausted. This twilight period explains the later radiocarbon dates stretching from 1400–900 BC.

The entrance to the Bronze Age Great Orme copper mine [Credit: Alan Simkins/WikiCommons]

During the period of large-scale production there must have been considerable organisation of the many mining and smelting tasks as well as coordination of substantial resources, including obtaining tin from Cornwall to combine with the copper to make bronze (90% copper, 10% tin). This scale of activity suggests a full-time mining community was present, possibly supported or controlled by communities in the agriculturally richer area of northeast Wales.

These Bronze Age miners made Britain self-sufficient in copper for the first and only time in the Bronze Age, and British copper was transported by sea to an area stretching from Brittany to as far as the Baltic. This new evidence suggests that Britain was much more closely integrated into European Bronze Age trade and exchange networks than archaeologists had previously suspected.

The full report is available from Antiquity Journal.

Source: University of Liverpool [October 15, 2019]

Dinas Dinlle dig uncovers Iron Age roundhouse and Roman coins

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 21, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Europe, UK, Wales, Western Europe

A huge Iron Age roundhouse, thought to be about 2,500 years old, and roman pottery have been uncovered during an archaeological dig at a coastal fort.

The Iron Age stone roundhouse was discovered at Dinas Dinlle earlier this month [Credit: Crown CHERISH Poject 2019]

Volunteers have joined experts to find out more about the little-known Dinas Dinlle National Trust-owned monument in Gwynedd before it falls into the sea.

The 43ft (13m) wide roundhouse was buried by coastal sand, thought to have blown there during a sandstorm in 1330. Coins found at the fort near Caernarfon suggest it was occupied in Roman times.

The "well-preserved" roundhouse - with its 8ft (2.5m) thick walls - was uncovered close to the cliff edge buried underneath 3ft (1m) of sand during a two-week dig.

"It's probably the biggest one I've ever seen in 30 years of archaeology," said David Hopewell, senior archaeologist at the dig."

Up to 50 volunteers joined experts as part of the community dig to help with excavation and recording work [Credit: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust 2019]

"In another trench we have another big wall which may be another roundhouse but we're not entirely sure yet."

"The main problem is that everything is under a metre of sand and we're wondering if it blew in in the big storm in 1330 - so it looks like it's been buried for a long time and it's superbly preserved."

Archaeologists' initial estimations think the Roman pottery could be from around 200 to 300AD while the fort is thought to be from the Iron Age, which dates from around 800BC to 43AD.

"That's not to say Romans occupied the site but perhaps a tribe lived there that traded with the Romans," said Dan Amor, of the Gwynedd Archaeological Trust.

Archaeologists uncover a roundhouse at the 125-acre Dinas Dinlle site [Credit: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust 2019]

The roundhouse, though, could be the jewel in the crown of the hillfort - set on glacial drift sediment - of which about 30% already been lost to the Irish Sea since 1900.

Experts predict, due to climate change, the 125-acre Dinas Dinlle site could be completely lost within 500 years.

It is one of 12 sites in the UK and Ireland being monitored by the European Union-funded Cherish project, led by the Royal Commission, to see how climate change is affecting coastal heritage such as Dinas Dinlle.

This is the first archaeological excavation of the hillfort that formed part of a golf course in the early 20th Century before a pill box was constructed on the site during the Second World War.

The map shows the location of the seven trenches currently being excavated [Credit: Gwynedd Archaeological Trust 2019]

Early maps and the curve of the defences suggest the fort was once entirely enclosed but part of the western defences have been lost to the sea following thousands of years of coastal erosion.

"Dinas Dinlle encapsulates the risk to our coastline from climate change," said Andy Godber of the National Trust.

"Our coastal adaptation policy for Dinas Dinlle is to accept the loss of this important site, being part of this innovative project allows us to learn more about the history of human occupation here, while we still can."

For more information visit the CHERISH project website.

Source: BBC News Website [August 21, 2019]

86 Roman era skeletons discovered under a North Wales college

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 02, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Europe, UK, Wales, Western Europe

Some of the skeletons found in an ancient graveyard on Anglesey date back to the 4th Century, experts have said.

Tests showed some of the people buried up to 1,600 years ago were from Scandinavia and the Mediterranean [Credit: Archaeology Wales]

Wales Archaeology, which led the college dig, found the remains of 34 individuals. Some had been buried in stone-lined coffins.

Tests showed some of the people buried up to 1,600 years ago were from Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.

Some were from the Welsh borders and four were western Britons, said project manager Dr Irene Garcia Rovira.

Quernstone surface revealed during the excavations of the western side of the early medieval cemetery [Credit: Archaeology Wales]

The findings have been made public following digs carried out during work on the Llangefni link road in 2016 and Coleg Menai's nearby campus the year after.

Analysis has shown some of those buried did not eat seafood despite being near to the coast. The skeletons included a number of females aged between 18 and 25, perhaps suggesting the dangers of child birth at the time.

The male remains showed they lived up to the age of 45 which was a "reasonable lifespan" for the late Roman and early Medieval period.

The archaeological dig at Coleg Menai Pencraig Campus [Credit: Archaeology Wales]

Dr Rovira said the site was important because skeletons do not usually survive in the area's acidic soil.

In 2016, Brython Archaeology said its dig on the link road revealed "cist" graves which each held several bodies, alongside jewellery and French pottery.

Source: BBC News Website [August 02, 2019]

Late Iron Age chariot pieces, sword found in Wales

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on June 26, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Europe, UK, Wales, Western Europe

Archaeologists have discovered more artefacts at the first Celtic chariot burial site to be found in southern Britain. Two iron tyres and a sword from the chariot were retrieved during an excavation in Pembrokeshire.

Archaeologists discovered bronze artefacts, the iron tyres of the chariot wheels and an iron sword [Credit: Museum Wales]

The exact site remains a secret and follows the discovery of decorative objects by a metal detector enthusiast on the same land in February 2018. National Museum Wales is conserving the chariot pieces.

Archaeologists had suspected they would uncover more beneath the farmland where metal detectorist Mike Smith found a number of objects associated with a chariot. Following an initial investigation in June 2018 by archaeologists from National Museum Wales and Dyfed Archaeological Trust, a dig was carried out in March and April, funded by National Museum Wales, Cadw and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The team discovered bronze artefacts, the iron tyres of the chariot wheels and an iron sword.

The sword in situ [Credit: Museum Wales]

Adam Gwilt, principal curator of prehistoric archaeology at National Museum Wales, said: "It is the first chariot burial to be found not just in Wales, but in southern Britain. Chariots, as war and ceremonial vehicles, were used to display the power and identity of their owners and tribal communities in late Iron Age Britain, as the fine decoration on these artefacts shows. While we still know little about their owner, these chariot pieces probably belonged to a man or woman of some standing within their tribe or community."

National Museum Wales hopes to buy the objects found by Mr Smith so they can be displayed alongside the chariot wheels and sword at St Fagans National Museum of History.

Reconstruction drawing by Jeremy Richards of a horse drawn Celtic chariot and charioteer in Iron Age Britain. The Iron Age was an archaeological era, referring to a period of time approximating 1200 BC to 600 BC, it was not is not an archaeological horizon, but rather a locally diverse cultural phase [Credit: Museum Wales]

Dr Kate Roberts, principal inspector of ancient monuments at Cadw, said: "A unique archaeological discovery like this stirs our imagination - we wonder who the charioteer was and about the world they lived in. By studying these artefacts we hope to learn more about a time when great change in the shape of the Roman Empire was sweeping across Wales."

Author: Huw Thomas | Source: BBC News Website [June 26, 2019]

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

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on June 10, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Europe, UK, Wales, Western Europe

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]

Bronze Age canoe discovered in Wales

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on May 07, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Europe, UK, Wales, Western Europe

Archaeological work on the Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass has revealed a large burnt mound around 3500 years old with three troughs beneath, one possibly being a dug-out canoe which could be a substantial discovery.

The large section of timber that could date back to at least 1500BC [Credit: Welsh Government]

Whilst burnt mounds are fairly common sites and are usually found close to water, the unearthing of a trough measuring around three metres could be significant.

During excavation it became apparent that a large section of timber was preserved within the trough, and could date back to at least 1500BC. This was found to be the trunk of a single oak tree which had been hollowed out, with archaeologists believing it likely to be a canoe which was re-used as a trough, although it is possible it was always intended for that function.

If the well preserved timber is a canoe, it is an extremely rare discovery and the first prehistoric example to be found in North West Wales.

The object has now been lifted and is currently being assessed further by specialists.

A section of Roman road has also been excavated. The route was identified on the geophysical survey and could be seen as a low bank running through a number of fields before excavation began.

The scheme has allowed the investigation of a much longer stretch of the road and has confirmed the route of the road between the forts of Segontium (Caernarfon) and Canovium (Caerhun, Conwy Valley), which was previously uncertain.

An early medieval industrial site which dates to the 8th century has been uncovered as well. Although no traces of metal were found during the excavation, samples collected during an earlier phase of work contained fragments of iron known as hammerscale which are hot sparks that are produced when hot iron is struck by a hammer.

The first phase of planned archaeological studies commenced in late February and has been completed. Scheduled archaeological work will now take place on the next stage of earthwork operations.

These findings do not impact on construction of the Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass which remains on schedule and could be completed by autumn 2021.

Transport Minister Ken Skates said: "The Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass is a significant Welsh Government scheme in North West Wales which, when complete, will deliver great benefits for local communities as well as people travelling in the area. The archaeological findings are another huge positive to come from this development and provide an exciting and thought-provoking insight into the region’s ancient history. These important discoveries may never have been found without the construction of the bypass and I’d like to thank the team of archaeologists, contractors and all those involved in unearthing these remarkable findings."

These investigations were planned and do not affect the construction timetable which is on programme and progressing.

Gwynedd Archaeological Planning Service Senior Planning Archaeologist, Jenny Emmett said: "The archaeological mitigation is going very well and the results so far have already added considerably to our knowledge of the area. The scheme is expected to continue to add new information as further discoveries emerge, both on site and during the specialist analysis of the remains that will take place following the excavations. We are pleased with both the significance of the discoveries and the positive working relationships that have been established between all parties that have enabled the programme to proceed smoothly, and look forward to both continuing as the scheme progresses."

Source: Welsh Government [May 07, 2019]