SPACES--exploring Neolithic landscapes in the Strumble-Preseli area of southwest Wales.

Darvill, Timothy ; Wainwright, Geoffrey

Since the days of Giraldus Cambrensis, North Pembrokeshire has fascinated antiquarians and archaeologists alike because of its rich prehistoric, early Christian and industrial age archaeology. For a century the area has been recognized as the source of exotic stones used in constructing Stonehenge, 220 km to the east, but while debate has focused on geological matters and how the bluestones reached the Wiltshire Downs, interest in the archaeological context of the `bluestone landscape' from whence they came has been remarkably slight. Peter Drewett of UCL carried out sample surveys in the mid 1980s (Drewett 1983-5), while more recently Cadw has been working to define and characterize the area's historic landscapes (Cadw 1998; 2001). In 2001 the present authors embarked on SPACES (the Strumble-Preseli Ancient Communities and Environment Study) with the aim of developing a broader diachronic understanding of the way in which ancient communities occupied and structured the landscape of the Strumble-Preseli area, a region that holds the answers to questions of national as well as regional interest. To date efforts have focused on the examination of Neolithic landscapes, already with surprising results.

Along the hills dominated by the igneous intrusions that so interested Neolithic communities (Shotton 1972) is a series of stone-walled enclosures morphologically and situationally comparable to confirmed Neolithic enclosures elsewhere in southwestern Britain. Regularly spaced at intervals of about 9 km, the most westerly is at Garn Fawr (FIGURE 1) ,where eroded walls link natural rock outcrops to form an irregular polygonal enclosure 150x100 m. Further east similar structures can be recognized at Gain Fechan, Mynydd Dinas, Carningli, Carn Alw and Moel Trigarn.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Near some of these enclosures are chambered tombs of various sorts, many being what Barker (1992: 77) refers to as `outcrop sites'. These simple megaliths comprise large stones raised at one end with a single orthostat as the main support. Although burials are known from early investigations, these structures stand apart from other kinds of chambered tomb in Wales; perhaps they are part of a wider tradition around the Celtic Sea seen also in the quoits or chocked stones of Cornwall (Bender et al. 1997: 153) and the boulder burials of southeastern Ireland (O Nuallan 1978). In Pembrokeshire these megaliths are closely associated with natural rock out-crops, as at Carn Wnda, Llanwnda (FIGURE 2). Local views from this megalith are dominated by a large single-pointed boulder 2.3 m high that seems to have been deliberately placed as a marker. Here, as Tilley (1996) has suggested for the Neolithic communities of Bodmin Moor, rock outcrops seem to have been powerful places.

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Associations between other kinds of chambered tomb and stone outcrops can be seen at Carn Meini where the putatively simple passage grave of Llach-y-Flaiddast stands immediately west of the main bluestone outcrops. The tomb (FIGURE 3) is integral with the upper end of a linear feature, perhaps natural, dubbed the `stone river'. Running southwards from Carn Meini for 2 km and ending in the Gors Fawr bog 150 m below, this extraordinary feature comprises a broad gully filled with jumbled dolerite stones and occasional standing stones.

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The exploitation of bluestone and rhyolite around Carn Meini has a long history, not much of it documented. In 2002, flaking sites were found amid scree on the south side, but have yet to be dated. Broken and abandoned orthostats, also of unknown date, were recorded on the southern slopes (FIGURE 4), perhaps en route to the Eastern Cleddau river below. Bluestones were used locally in the construction of chambered tombs, stone circles and other settings. Some, such as Gors Fawr, are well known and much visited. Much less known is the oval bluestone setting known as Bedd Arthur (FIGURE 5) to the west of Carn Meini. Of similar size and proportions to the Phase 3iv bluestone horseshoe at Stonehenge (Cleal et al. 1995: figure 117), this site enjoys wide views over the bluestone outcrops and southwards towards the ceremonial centre known at Glandy Cross (Kirk & Williams 2000).

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Survey work to date has revealed funerary and ceremonial sites where none were previously known and suggests extensive and locally intensive use of the Strumble-Preseli area throughout the Neolithic period. Fieldwork has also demonstrated that, although this is an upland area, there are extensive well-preserved bogs in the upper Cleddau Valley. These add a wetland dimension to the project that will also need to be explored. Over the next few years it is hoped to examine and evaluate a sample of sites in the area in order to provide a secure cultural, chronological and environmental framework.

References

BARKER, C.T. 1992. The chambered tombs of south-west Wales. Oxford: Oxbow Books (Monograph 14).

BENDER, B., S. HAMILTON & C. TILLEY. 1997. Leskernick: stone worlds; alternative narratives; nested landscapes, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 63: 103-28.

CADW. 1998. Landsapes of historic interest in Wales. Part 2.1. Cardiff: Cadw.

2001. Landscapes of historic interest in Wales. Part 2.2. Cardiff: Cadw.

CLEAL, R.M.J., K.E. WALKER & R. MONTAGUE. 1995. Stonehenge in its landscape. Twentieth-century excavations. London: English Heritage. Archaeological Report 10.

DREWETT, P. 1983-85. Mynydd Preseli. Interim Reports. London: Institute of Archaeology, University of London. [Limited circulation duplicated annual reports].

KIRK, T. & G. WILLIAMS. 2000. Glandy Cross: a later prehistoric monumental complex in Carmarthenshire, Wales, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 66: 257-96.

O NUALLAIN, S. 1978. Boulder-burials, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 78C.4: 75-114.

SHOTTON, F.W. 1972. The large stone axes ascribed to north-west Pembrokeshire, in F. Lynch & C. Burgess (ed.), Prehistoric man in Wales and the west: 85-91. Bath: Adams & Dart.

TILLEY, C. 1996. The power of rocks: topography and monument construction on Bodmin Moor, World Archaeology 28.2: 161-76.

TIMOTHY DARVILL & GEOFFREY WAINWRIGHT *

* Darvill, School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, England. tdarvill@bournemouth.ac.uk Wainwright, March Pres, Pontfaen, Fishguard SA65 9TT, Wales. geoff@bluestone.eu.com