Plynlimon (central) - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Uplands Initiative – Nant y Moch & Pumlimon Fawr / <strong>Plynlimon</strong> 2004THE RING-CAIRN (NPRN: 284056)This proved to be a structure of some interest. It stands on an almost level natural platformprojecting from the hillside, and commanding clear views up and down the Rheidol valley and upthe Gamddwr. Before excavation it appeared as a circular grass-grown stony bank with an entranceto the south, and the writer regarded it as either an ancient fold or more probably as an early hutfoundation;the fact that no stone-built huts are known in this area increased its interest. Excavationshowed at once that the masonry at the entrance was little more than piled stone and the antiquityof the structure seemed doubtful, but a trench was cut along one radius to make sure that the ringcontained no evidence for occupation, and this revealed the top of a 'post-hole' almost at the centre.This left the excavator with little doubt that the structure was a hut, although so poorly built, andrather more than a quarter of the site was cleared for detailed examination; as the work was beingdone largely single-handed, it was intended to investigate this before deciding whether completeclearance would be needed. The next step was to empty the supposed post-hole, and at once the rimof a small pot was exposed; it thus became evident that the structure was neither a hut nor a fold,but some form of religious or sepulchral monument of the Bronze Age. Finally, about threequartersof the <strong>central</strong> area was examined. A 5 ft. section was cut through the stone ring on the eastside, and the surface of one quadrant of it was completely cleared. The site was re-visited in 1975when the water was low, but although almost all the peat cover was eroded no additional internal orexternal features were found, and there was no convincing indication of further kerbing.The whole structure was buried in peat; the first 7 in. below the grass was brown, merging intoabout 3 in. of black peat at the bottom but with no sharp division; these layers are thinner over thestone ring. Beneath, the natural soil is a whitish/yellow rock, mostly soft but with harder masses,over which lies 2—3 in. of light greyish brown clay. The surface of this clay was covered with anetwork of mouse burrows, which had led to the formation of lines of iron concretion.The structure produced evidence for a fairly elaborate ritual in its construction, but theworkmanship throughout was of poor quality. There was no properly built' masonry, and if thedesigners were aiming at regular planning it can only be said that the setting out was done 'by eye',and by someone whose 'eye' was very poor.The stone ring was about 6 ft. or 7 ft. wide, built up to a height of about 18 in. above the oldsurface. The external diameter was roughly 43 ft. There was a very rough suggestion of kerbing(outer edges shown thickened on plan), rather less indefinite at the outer circumference than at theinner. The fill was mostly loose rubble, but with some pieces of clayey material, suggesting thatlumps of turf were also used. Peat had penetrated into the voids in the upper part of the fill, butthere was no trace of any under the lowest stones, and it seems fairly certain that there was little ornone on the site when the structure was built.A flint scraper was found among rubble just outside the bank, in the south-east quadrant. Sincethere were no impermeable layers anywhere on the site to prevent the migration of pollen, no peatsamples were taken.The way in which the stones lay in the bank and on the enclosure suggested that the builders hadkept off the <strong>central</strong> area, so that when stones intended for the inner kerb fell out of place they werenot picked up and re-set; this, however, is merely a subjective impression, incapable of proof. Onthe south the bank was interrupted by a gap about 5 ft. wide. The west side of this was merely aroughly built-up slope of stones, but the east was fairly well defined by a kerb of three large blocks.The gap itself was clear except for a single large slab, about 2 ft. across and 6 in. thick. It was tooheavy to have been moved accidentally into this position, and may possibly represent a formalritual blocking of the entrance. If so, the fact that it does not extend right across the entrancepassage would be in, keeping with the quality of the structure as a whole.71CAP Report No: 355
Uplands Initiative – Nant y Moch & Pumlimon Fawr / <strong>Plynlimon</strong> 2004FIGURE 6. Urn from Aber Camddwr ring cairn (NPRN: 284056).Within the ring, the <strong>central</strong> space for a diameter of about 12 ft. was almost clear of stones, apartfrom those covering the burnt skeleton (see below). Outside "this area stones were more frequent,mostly, it appeared, the casual scatter natural to the surface. In the south-east quadrant, however,their appearance and greater frequency suggested deliberate rough pavings, perhaps with a kerbabout 3 in. high in the north half, running parallel to the inner kerb of the bank and about 3 ft. fromit. It must be emphasised, though, that the stonework is all so rough that it is impossible to be quitecertain whether minor features of this kind were intentional. In the following account, stake-holesare lettered (A—Z, a—e), larger hollows are numbered (Pits 1-9).The traces of ritual activities were almost confined to the cleared area. Near its centre was a hole(Pit 1) about 1 ft. in diameter and of similar depth, tapering slightly towards the bottom. Thiscontained a small Collared Urn, the surrounding space being filled with black peaty soil containingbirch and alder charcoal. Near this point was found a bun-shaped lump of white quartzite, similar indiameter to the top of the pot, which may have formed a cover for it, but apart from this possibility,the hole was not sealed in any way, except by the peat which had formed over it.At least two dozen stakes had been set upright within the ring. One (L) had been driven close to thehole on its west side and another (QJ diametrically opposite to it into the hole itself, breaking theside of the pot. The position of the fragments showed that this had been almost full of earth whenburied. The contents were examined by Dr. I. W. Cornwall, but there was nothing to distinguishthem from ordinary soil humus; this does not, of course, exclude the possibility that someuncarbonised organic material was present originally. Eight other hollows (Pits 2-9) had been cutinto the floor of the enclosure; five of these lay on a semicircle of radius 7 ft. with centre 4 ft. southof the pot, and the remaining three close within it. All were bowl-shaped, not post-holes; details ofsize and contents are given in Appendix III, but most of them contained nothing to indicate whatpart they had played in the ritual associated with the site.North-west of the pot, however, Pits 2, 3 and 4 were covered by four large irregular slabs laid flat,with two more resting on them. In Pit 2 were the remains of a child, which had been incompletelyburned in situ. The bones were too fragmentary to determine age or sex, but before removal it couldbe seen that the largest surviving long-bone (femur ?) had been about 8 in. long. They rested on amass of oak charcoal, suggesting that they had been placed on a thick plank or tray; its shape wasnot recoverable, but the part which had been fully carbonised suggested a width of about 9 in., witha roughly rounded end. The bones themselves were not in any sort of order, as though the body hadbeen completely disarticulated before burning; there was no trace of skull or teeth. Since thescraper found outside the south-east quadrant has been crackled by heat (see below), and there wasno other fire on the site, it may have been utilised in some way in this part of the ceremony.The bones were restricted to Pit 2, but the burnt earth and charcoal (all oak) extended over theintervening space into Pit 3; both these were very shallow. Pit 4 contained no charcoal, so waspresumably dug and refilled before the fire was lit. Fragments of oak and hazel charcoal werepresent in the filling of Pits 5 and 6.71CAP Report No: 355
Page 1 and 2: Uplands Initiative - Nant y Moch &
Page 15: Uplands Initiative - Nant y Moch &
Page 67 and 68:
Uplands Initiative - Nant y Moch &
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
APPENDIX 1: SITE ILLUSTRATIONSUplan
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75:
show all

Plynlimon (central) - Royal Commission on the Ancient and ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?