The 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 Wales, to the year AD 48 when the Roman army began a military campaign against one of the Welsh tribes. Traditionally, historians have believed that successive waves of immigrants brought different cultures into the area, largely replacing the previous inhabitants, with the last wave of immigrants being the Celts. However, studies of population genetics now suggest that this may not be true, and that immigration was on a smaller scale.
The earliest known human remains discovered in modern-day Wales date from 230,000 years ago. An early Neanderthal upper jaw fragment containing two teeth, whose owner probably lived during an interglacial period in the Lower Palaeolithic, was found in a cave in the River Elwy valley, at the Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site, near St Asaph (Welsh: Llanelwy), Denbighshire.[1][2] Excavations of the site between 1978 and 1995 revealed a further 17 teeth belonging to five individuals, a total of seven hand axes and some animal bones, some of which show signs of butchery.[3] This site is the most north-westerly in Eurasia at which the remains of 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 Pavilandlimestone caves of the Gower Peninsula in south Wales are by far the richest source of Aurignacian material in Britain, including burins and scrapers dated to about 28,500 years ago.[6] The first remains of modern humans, Homo sapiens sapiens, to be found in Wales was the famous Red Lady of Paviland, discovered in the 1820s. This was a human skeleton dyed in red ochre discovered in 1823 in one of the Paviland caves in 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] Some will call this finding the "Goat's Hole".[12]
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.[13]
Mesolithic
Following the last Ice age, Wales became roughly the shape it is today by about 7000 BC and was inhabited by Mesolithichunter-gatherers. Wales has many sites where Mesolithic material has been found, but securely stratified material is rare.[14] The earliest dated Mesolithic site in Wales is Nab Head, Pembrokeshire, around 9,200 years ago.[15][16] 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.[17] There is evidence of arrows and the use of simplistic tools in the Llŷn Peninsula.[18][19] Some decorated pebbles found at Rhuddlan represent the earliest art found in Wales.[20]
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. Millennia 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 flinttools and 2 axes.[21][22]
The earliest farming communities are now believed to date from about 4000 BC, marking the beginning of the Neolithic period. Pollen evidence indicates the clearing of forests on an increasing scale during this period. The Neolithic saw the construction of many chambered tombs, the most notable including Bryn Celli Ddu and Barclodiad y Gawres on Anglesey.[23] 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.[24]
Three main types of megalithic tomb are found in Wales, the Severn-Cotswold type in the south-east, 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.[25] There is evidence of close cultural links with Ireland, particularly in the Early Neolithic period.[26]
A number of houses from the Neolithic period have also been found in Wales, most notably the settlement at Clegyr Boia near 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.[27][28][29] Pottery finds also indicate a relationship with Ireland.
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 Bell Beaker culture, initially copper followed by bronze. The climate during the Early Bronze Age (c. 2100-1400 BC) is thought to have been warmer than at present, as there are many remains from this period in what are now bleak uplands. Much of the copper for the production of bronze probably came from the copper mine on the Great Orme, where prehistoric mining on a very large scale dates largely from the middle Bronze Age.[33] In particular copper from the Great Orme mines appears to have been used for the production of bronze implements of the Acton Park Complex, named after a hoard found at 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.[34]
Burial practices in the Bronze Age differed from the communal tombs of the Neolithic period, with a change to burial in round barrows and the provision of grave goods. Inhumation was soon replaced by cremation and in Wales the cemetery mound with a number of burials had become the standard form by about 2000 BC.[35] One of the most striking finds from Bronze Age Wales was the 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.[36]
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.[37] It has been suggested that this led to conflict and to changes in social organization, with the earliest hillforts appearing about 800 BC.[38]
The Late Bronze Age saw the development of more advanced bronze implements, with weapons becoming increasingly common.[39] 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.[40]
The earliest iron implements found in Wales come from Llyn Fawr at the head of the Rhondda Valley, where objects apparently deposited as 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.[43]
Over 600 hillfort were built in Wales and throughout the British Isles from c.800 BC.[21] The Iron Age saw the building of hillforts which are particularly numerous in Wales, including Pen Dinas near Aberystwyth and Tre'r Ceiri on the Llŷn Peninsula. The earliest distinctively Iron Age settlement in Wales is considered to be 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.[44][45] 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).[46][47][48]
Din Lligwy, Iron Age hut circle ruins, Anglesey.
Some Celtic tribes originated in Germany and migrated throughout Western Europe, also to Britain and Ireland. These western European Iron Age tribes in Britain were established in the late Iron Age between c. 500 BC - 200 BC. Later in the Iron Age, stone roundhouses were being built from c.500 BC (earliest). Hut circles were found throughout Wales and Celtic Europe. These stone-built roundhouses were occupied for nearly a thousand years and were used until the end of the Roman occupation of Great Britain during the 5th century. A well-preserved hut circle on Anglesey is Din Lligwy, the small village was dated from the Iron Age to Roman occupation. A hoard of Roman era pottery and coins were discovered in the 1905-07 archaeological excavation of Din Lligwy.[50][49][51]
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.[52] 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.[53] In 2018, the first-ever Celtic chariot burial found in southern Britain was discovered in Llanstadwell — associated with other burials and a multivallate fort. It has been dated to the second half of the first century AD[54][55]
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.[56] 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.[57] It has been suggested that a Celtic language was being spoken in Wales by about 700 BC.
Roman Iron Age
The prehistoric period ended with the arrival of the Roman army, who began their campaigns against the Welsh tribes in 48 AD with an attack on the Deceangli in north-east Wales, the era was deemed the Roman Iron Age. Wales was divided between a number of tribes, of which the Silures and the Ordovices put up the most stubborn resistance. 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. An example of that era is the Welsh pre-Celtic (Goidelic) Silures tribe, who occupied their lands from the ancient times of Britain. The tribe later established a home in the Malvern Hills building earthworks to protect themselves from Ostorius Scapula and his Roman army. However, later in 78 AD, the Silures tribe was defeated by the Romans led by Frontinus from his nearby camp at the Roman fort of Ariconium which was then inhabited for 300 more years.[58][59][60][61]
Bannister, Arthur Thomas (1861). "1". The history of Ewias Harold. Jakeman & Carver. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
Cunliffe, Barry W. (1978). Iron age communities in Britain: an account of England, Scotland, and Wales from the seventh century BC until the Roman conquest (2ded.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN071008725X.
Davies, John (1994). A history of Wales. London: Penguin Books. ISBN0-14-014581-8.
Koch, Thomas (2005). Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio. p.945. ISBN1851094407.
Koch, John; Cunliffe, Barry; Cleary, Kerry; Gibson, Catriona (1 September 2016). "opper mining, prospection and the Beaker Phenomenon in Wales – The significance of the Banc Tynddol gold disc". Celtic from the West 3: Atlantic Europe in the Metal Ages — questions of shared language. Oxbow Books. pp.111–138. doi:10.2307/j.ctvh1dhg7.7. ISBN978-1-78570-230-3.
Lloyd, John Edward (1911). A History of Wales: From the Norman Invasion to the Edwardian Conquest. Barnes & Noble Publishing. ISBN978-0-7607-5241-8.
Lynch, F. M. (1991). Prehistoric Anglesey: the archaeology of the island to the Roman conquest (2nded.). Llangefni: Anglesey Antiquarian Society. ISBN0950019976.
The history of what is now Wales begins with evidence of a Neanderthal presence from at least 230,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens arrived by about 31,000 BC. However, continuous habitation by modern humans dates from the period after the end of the last ice age around 9000 BC, and Wales has many remains from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Bronze Age. During the Iron Age, as in all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth, the culture had become Celtic, with a common Brittonic language. The Romans, who began their conquest of Britain in AD 43, first campaigned in what is now northeast Wales in 48 against the Deceangli, and gained total control of the region with their defeat of the Ordovices in 79. The Romans departed from Britain in the 5th century, opening the door for the Anglo-Saxon settlement. Thereafter, the culture began to splinter into a number of kingdoms. The Welsh people formed with English encroachment that effectively separated them from the other surviving Brittonic-speaking peoples in the early middle ages.
Several species of humans have intermittently occupied Great Britain for almost a million years. The earliest evidence of human occupation around 900,000 years ago is at Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast, with stone tools and footprints probably made by Homo antecessor. The oldest human fossils, around 500,000 years old, are of Homo heidelbergensis at Boxgrove in Sussex. Until this time Britain had been permanently connected to the Continent by a chalk ridge between South East England and northern France called the Weald-Artois Anticline, but during the Anglian Glaciation around 425,000 years ago a megaflood broke through the ridge, and Britain became an island when sea levels rose during the following Hoxnian interglacial.
Aberffraw is a village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. The village is 9 miles from the island's county town, Llangefni, and is on the west bank of the Afon Ffraw. The community includes Soar and Dothan. It is on the A4080 and the nearest rail station is Bodorgan.
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, which had an independent Iron Age culture of its own. The Iron Age is not an archaeological horizon of common artefacts but is rather a locally-diverse cultural phase.
Yr Eifl, sometimes called the Rivals in English, is a group of hills on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales.
Llyn Cerrig Bach is a small lake located between Rhosneigr and Valley in the west of Anglesey, Wales.
Tre'r Ceiri ( ) is a hillfort dating back to the Iron Age. The name means "town of the giants", from cewri, plural of cawr, "giant". The settlement is 450 metres (1,480 ft) above sea level on the slopes of Yr Eifl, a mountain on the north coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. Evidence suggests the fort was first built around 200 BC, though most of the archaeological finds date from AD 150–400, showing the site continued as a settlement during the Roman occupation.
Cerrigydrudion, sometimes spelt Cerrig-y-drudion, is a village and community in Conwy, Wales. Until 1974 it was part of the historic county Denbighshire, when it became part of the newly formed county of Clwyd. When the county of Clwyd was abolished in 1996, the village was transferred to the new Conwy County Borough. The village formerly lay on the A5, but a short by-pass now takes the road along the south-western edge of the village. Prior to the by-pass being built, Cerrigydrudion was the highest village on the A5 between London and Holyhead. The community includes the hamlets of Cefn Brith, Glasfryn and Pentre-Llyn-Cymmer with the village having a population of around 289. The community is sparsely populated and covers over 60 square kilometres.
Llanstadwell is a small village, parish and community in south Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Edward Lowry Barnwell was a British antiquarian and schoolmaster who was headmaster of Ruthin School, Denbighshire for 26 years.
The St Lythans burial chamber is a single stone megalithic dolmen, built around 4,000 BC as part of a chambered long barrow, during the mid Neolithic period, in what is now known as the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.
Anglesey is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island and some islets and skerries. The county borders Gwynedd across the Menai Strait to the southeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the Irish Sea. Holyhead is the largest town, and the administrative centre is Llangefni. The county is part of the preserved county of Gwynedd. Anglesey is the northernmost county in Wales.
Parc Cwm long cairn, also known as Parc le Breos burial chamber, is a partly restored Neolithic chambered tomb, identified in 1937 as a Severn-Cotswold type of chambered long barrow. The cromlech, a megalithic burial chamber, was built around 5,850 years before present (BP), during the early Neolithic. It is about seven 1⁄2 miles (12 km) west south–west of Swansea, Wales, in what is now known as Coed y Parc Cwm at Parc le Breos, on the Gower Peninsula.
Parc le Breos was a great medieval deer park in the south of the Gower Peninsula, about eight miles (13 km) west of Swansea, Wales, and about 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) north of the Bristol Channel. The park was an enclosed, oval area of 6.7 miles (10.8 km) in circumference, covering about 2,000 acres (810 ha) and measuring 2+1⁄2 miles (east–west) by just over 1+3⁄4 miles. Parc le Breos was established in the 1220s CE by John de Braose, Marcher Lord of Gower and husband to Margaret Ferch Llywelyn, Llywelyn Fawr's daughter. Other than for deer husbandry, the park received an income from agistment, pannage, and from sales of wild honey, ferns and dead wood. There is evidence of rabbit warrens in the park. Whether the warrens were free or domestic is unknown.
Castell Bryn Gwyn is a prehistoric site on the Isle of Anglesey, west of Brynsiencyn. It is a circular clay and gravel bank covered with grass, still some 1.5 metres (5') high and revetted externally by stone walls, which surround a level area some 54 metres (177') in diameter. Its name means "White Hill Castle".
Ceredigion is a large rural county in West Wales. It has a long coastline of Cardigan Bay to the west and the remote moorland of the Cambrian Mountains in the east, with the mountainous terrain of Plynlimon in the northeast. Ceredigion has a total of 264 scheduled monuments. That is too many to have on a single list page, so for convenience the list is divided into two, 163 prehistoric sites and 101 Roman, Medieval and Post Medieval sites.
Gwynedd is a large rural county in North Wales. The northern half includes the high mountains of Snowdonia and the mixed farmland and hills of the Llŷn peninsula, which between them make up much of the former county of Caernarfonshire. The southern part of Gwynedd is the softer coastal and upland landscapes of the former county of Merionethshire. Gwynedd, the second-largest county in Wales, has a total of 497 scheduled monuments. That is too many to have on a single list article, so for convenience the list is divided into three. The 365 prehistoric sites are in two lists, covering 171 sites in former Merionethshire, and 194 sites in former Caernarvonshire. The 132 sites dating from Roman to modern times are included in a single list covering the whole of the county. Gwynedd is a unitary authority comprising most of the two historic counties. In 1974 it also merged with Anglesey, and the merged county was also called Gwynedd. Since 1996 Anglesey has been a separate county again.
Parciau hill fort is a hill fort on the Welsh island of Anglesey. It stands on the summit of Bryn Ddiôl, whose name means "trackless hill".
The archaeology of Wales is the study of human occupation within the country of Wales which has been occupied by modern humans since 225,000 BCE, with continuous occupation from 9,000 BCE. Analysis of the sites, artefacts and other archaeological data within Wales details its complex social landscape and evolution from Prehistoric times to the Industrial period. This study is undertaken by academic institutions, consultancies, charities as well as government organisations.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
