Prehistoric Wales

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mold cape
, a gold cape from Wales dating to 1900–1700 BC.

Prehistoric Wales in terms of human settlements covers the period from about 230,000 years ago, the date attributed to the earliest human remains found in what is now

Celts
. However, studies of population genetics now suggest that this may not be true, and that immigration was on a smaller scale.

Palaeolithic

The earliest known human remains discovered in modern-day Wales date from 230,000 years ago. An early

hominids have been found, and is considered to be of international importance. Late Neanderthal hand axes were also found at Coygan Cave, Carmarthenshire and have been dated to between 60,000 and 35,000 years old.[4][5]

The

Gower.[7] Despite the name, the skeleton is actually that of a young man who lived about 33,000-34,000 years ago,[8] coincident with a warmer period at the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age).[9] He is considered to be the oldest known ceremonial burial in Western Europe.[10] The skeleton was found along with fragments of small cylindrical ivory rods, fragments of ivory bracelets and seashells.[11] Settlement in Wales was apparently intermittent, as periods of cooling and warming led to the ice sheets advancing and retreating. Wales appears to have been abandoned from about 21,000 years ago until after 13,000 years ago, with a burial found at Kendrick's Cave on the Great Orme dating to about 12,000 years ago.[12]

Mesolithic

Following the last

hunter-gatherers. Wales has many sites where Mesolithic material has been found, but securely stratified material is rare.[13] The earliest dated Mesolithic site in Wales is Nab Head, Pembrokeshire, around 9,200 years ago.[14] Many of the sites from this period are coastal, although 9,000 years ago they would have been some distance inland from the sea. There is a particular concentration in Pembrokeshire, but there are also a good number of upland sites, most apparently seasonal hunting locations, for example around Llyn Brenig.[15] Some decorated pebbles found at Rhuddlan represent the earliest art found in Wales.[16]

Anglesey's permanent settlement has a history beginning c. 9,000 years ago during the Mesolithic (European) period at the Aberffraw bay, Trwyn Du (Welsh: Black nose) excavated site. Millenniums later, around 2,000 BC was when a Bronze Age kerb cairn (bowl barrow) was built covering the original Trwyn Du artifact deposit of 7,000 thousand Mesolithic flint tools and 2 axes.[17][18][19][20]

Neolithic

See also: Neolithic British Isles
Pentre Ifan

The earliest farming communities are now believed to date from about 4000 BC, marking the beginning of the

chambered tombs, the most notable including Bryn Celli Ddu and Barclodiad y Gawres on Anglesey.[21] Also on the isle is one of the earliest settlements in Wales (potentially Wales' first village). The wooden long houses near Llanfaethlu is the remains of a Neolithic village dated to 4,000 BC. Flint tools were also found at the site.[22]

Three main types of megalithic tomb are found in Wales, the

Portal dolmen type and the Passage graves which are characteristic of the Irish Sea area and the Atlantic façade of Europe and Morocco. Megalithic tombs are most common in the western lowlands.[23] There is evidence of close cultural links with Ireland, particularly in the Early Neolithic period.[24]

A number of houses from the Neolithic period have also been found in Wales, most notably the settlement at

St David's in Pembrokeshire. Many artefacts have also been found, particularly polished stone axeheads. There were a number of "factories" in Wales producing these axeheads, the largest being the Graig Lwyd factory at Penmaenmawr on the north coast which exported its products as far afield as Yorkshire and the English midlands.[25]
Pottery finds also indicate a relationship with Ireland.

The Bronze Age

See also: Bronze Age Britain and Atlantic Bronze Age
Rhyd y Gors Shield
. Wales, 1200-1000 BC. On display at the British Museum.

Metal tools first appeared in Wales about 2500 BC with the

Acton Park near Wrexham. These tools, particularly axeheads, were developed towards the end of the Early Bronze Age and are innovative in both metallurgy and design. They were widely exported, with examples being found along the continental coast from Brittany to north Germany.[30]

Burial practices in the Bronze Age differed from the communal tombs of the Neolithic period, with a change to burial in

gold cape found in a tomb at Bryn yr Ellyllion, Mold, Flintshire dated to 1900-1600 BC, weighing 560 g and produced from a single gold ingot. Very few weapons have been found in Early Bronze Age graves in Wales compared with other objects, and the lack of traces of earlier Bronze Age settlements is thought to indicate that farms or hamlets were undefended.[32]

From about 1250 BC there was a deterioration in the climate which became more marked from about 1000 BC, with higher rainfall and much lower summer temperatures. This led to an increase in peat formation and probably the abandonment of many upland settlements.[33] It has been suggested that this led to conflict and to changes in social organization, with the earliest hillforts appearing about 800 BC.[34]

The Late Bronze Age saw the development of more advanced bronze implements, with weapons becoming increasingly common.[35] While the weapons reflect introduced styles, there are pronounced regional variations in the styles of tools, particularly axes. On the basis of tool types, Wales can be divided into four regions, These were, the Ordovices (Mid to North Wales & Anglesey), the Deceangli (North East Wales), the Demetae (South West Wales), and the Silures (South East Wales). These regions show an approximate correspondence to the territories of the tribes later recorded in these areas by the Romans.[36]

The Iron Age

See also:
Iron Age Britain
Caradog, leader of the Ordovices who fought his last battle against the Romans in 50 AD.
Llyn Cerrig Bach Plaque, 200BC-100 AD

The earliest iron implements found in Wales come from

votive offerings include three made of iron: a sword, a spearhead and a sickle. These items are thought to date to about 650 BC, and while the sword appears to be imported, the sickle is an imitation of a native bronze prototype.[39]

Over 600 hillfort were built in Wales and throughout the British Isles from c. 800 BC.

Castell Odo (modern-day Aberdaron), a small hillfort on the tip of the Llŷn Peninsula, the fort dates to about 400 BC but was actually settled during the late Bronze Age. The largest hillforts are most numerous along the eastern border of Wales, with some large examples also found in the lowlands of north-west Wales. In the south-west, by contrast, hillforts are very numerous but mainly small, with an area of under 1.2 hectares.[40][41] An example on Anglesey is Arthur's Table (Welsh: Bwrdd Arthur / Din Sylwy) hillfort, it's an Iron Age settlement that was inhabited for a millennium until after the Roman period (c. 4 AD).[18][42][43][44]

Din Lligwy, Iron Age hut circle ruins, Anglesey.[45]

Some Celtic tribes originated in

coins were discovered in the 1905-07 archaeological excavation of Din Lligwy.[46][45][47][48]

A particularly significant find from this period was made in 1943 at Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey, when the ground was being prepared for the construction of a Royal Air Force base. The cache included weapons, shields, chariots along with their fittings and harnesses, and slave chains and tools. Many had been deliberately broken and seem to have been votive offerings.[49] These finds are considered to be one of the most important collections of La Tène metalwork discovered in Britain. Pottery on the other hand is fairly rare in Wales during this period and most of what has been found appears to be imported.[50]

The La Tène culture is traditionally associated with the

Celts, and the general view until fairly recently was that the appearance of this culture indicated a large-scale invasion by peoples who also brought a Celtic language which later developed into Welsh.[51] The currently more popular view is that any movement of peoples was on a smaller scale, with cultural diffusion responsible for most of the changes. There is some evidence to support the latter model, such as burials associated with earlier religious sites.[52]
It has been suggested that a Celtic language was being spoken in Wales by about 700 BC.

The prehistoric period ended with the arrival of the

Roman conquest of Wales was complete by 79 AD. The reports of Roman historians such as Tacitus give a little more information about Wales in this period, such as that the island of Anglesey was apparently a stronghold of the Druids
. The impact of the arrival of the Romans may have varied from one part of Wales to another; for example there is evidence that some hillforts, such as Tre'r Ceiri, continued to be occupied during the Roman period.

Notes

Part of a series on the
History of Wales
Red Dragon of Wales
WALLIA PRINCIPATUS Vulgo WALES
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Topics
  1. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 6.
  2. ^ People's Collection a.
  3. ^ People's Collection b.
  4. ^ People's Collection c.
  5. ^ People's Collection d.
  6. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 16.
  7. ^ Whittle 1992, p. 4.
  8. ^ Jacobi & Higham 2008, pp. 898–907.
  9. ^ Richards & Trinkaus 2009, pp. 16034–9.
  10. ^ Oxford Museum of Natural History.
  11. ^ Lynch 2000, pp. 18–19.
  12. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 41.
  13. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 39.
  14. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 23.
  15. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 312.
  16. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 38.
  17. ^ "Scheduled Monuments- Full Report". cadwpublilc-api.azurewebsites.net. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  18. ^ a b c "Prehistoric Wales". cadw.gov.wales. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  19. ^ "Trwyn Du Cairn near Aberffraw, Overlying A Mesolithic Site (302323)". Coflein. RCAHMW.
  20. ^ "Aberffraw to port Cwyfan, Anglesey" (PDF). walescostalpath.gov.uk.
  21. ^ Lynch 2000, pp. 34–42, 58.
  22. ^ "Wales' earliest village?". archaeology.co.uk. 5 October 2017.
  23. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 42-43.
  24. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 54.
  25. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 56-57.
  26. ^ "Bryn Cello Ddu". cadw.gov.wales. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  27. ^ "Siambr Gladdu Tŷ Newydd". cadw.llyw.cymru. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  28. ^ "A Stone Age masterpiece - A Mace-head from North Wales". National Museum of Wales.
  29. ^ Lynch 1995, pp. 39–40.
  30. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 99.
  31. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 126.
  32. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 138.
  33. ^ Lynch 2000, pp. 140–145.
  34. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 150.
  35. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 180.
  36. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 184.
  37. ^ "Early Bronze Age gold disc". National Museum Wales.
  38. ^ "Copper mining, prospection and the Beaker Phenomenon in Wales – The significance of the Banc Tynddol gold disc". 2016.
  39. ^ Cunliffe 1978, p. 290.
  40. ^ "Early Celtic Societies in North Wales project – Excavations at Meillionydd 2010". Prifysgol Bangor University. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  41. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 147.
  42. ^ "Din Sylwy or Bwrdd Arthur (93842)". Coflein. RCAHMW.
  43. doi:10.11141/ia.48.6
    .
  44. ^ Foster & Daniel 2014, p. 130.
  45. ^ a b "Din Lligwy Hut Group". cadw.gov.wales. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  46. ^ RCAHMW, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Anglesey, p. LXXX, at Google Books
  47. ^ "The Celts in Wales". sarahwoodbury.com. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  48. ISBN 1851094407
    .
  49. ^ Lynch 1991, p. 249-77.
  50. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 199.
  51. ^ Cunliffe 1978, p. 3.
  52. ^ Lynch 2000, p. 213.
  53. ^ "The Capel Garmon Firedog". National Museum of Wales.
  54. ^ "The Langstone treasure". National Museum of Wales.
  55. ^ "The Penbryn Spoons". British Archaeology at the Ashmolean Museum.
  56. ^ "Iron Age chariot". National Museum of Wales.

See also

Bibliography

External links
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