CONFERENCE
Cambrian Archaeological Association in collaboration with Cardiff University
DARGANFOD – DISCOVERY 2023:
a celebration of new archaeological research in Wales
Saturday 1st April 2023, 9.30 – 4.30
To be held online (Zoom)
Click here to download the programme and abstracts as a PDF
Join us for a day dedicated to fascinating recent work on the archaeology of Wales and the Marches! This online conference is the second in our series of biennial conferences which showcases work by winners of Cambrian Archaeological Association’s G. T. Clark and Dissertation (Gwobr Archaeoleg) prizes as well as work supported by the CAA Research Fund. The event also features presentations by early career researchers.
The day will consist of a series of short presentations, with speakers available afterwards for question and answer sessions. The event is free, but advance registration on Eventbrite is required:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/darganfoddiscovery-a-celebration-of-new-archaeological-research-in-wales-tickets-547763133277
Please register by Thursday 30th March. Any enquiries should be sent to Rhiannon Comeau at cambrians1846@gmail.com
Timetable (for abstracts of talks see below)
9.30 Welcome: Elizabeth Walker, Cambrian Archaeological Association President
9.35 Session 1: Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age
Chair: Frances Lynch
9.35 Jane Kenney: A Welsh Landscape through Time: Excavations at Parc Cybi, Holy Island, Anglesey
10.00 Tudur Davies, Oliver Davis, Stephen Rippon, Andrew Seaman and Niall Sharples: Beneath the Vale: pollen evidence near Caerau causewayed enclosure and its implications for the beginning of the Neolithic in south Wales
10.25 Chris Griffiths: A hoard from Llanddeusant Community, Carmarthenshire, and its place in Late Bronze Age south Wales
10.50 Emma Wager: Copper Mining and Community at the Bronze Age Great Orme Mine, north Wales
11.15 Session 1 discussion
11.25 Coffee break
11.40 Session 2: Iron Age and Romano-British
Chair: Toby Driver
11.40 Dan Hunt: Living on the Brink of Coasts and Calamity
12.05 David Hopewell: Continuity and Change at Tre’r Ceiri Hillfort
12.30 Megan Kimmelshue: Landscape of Myth and Memory: the archaeology of Dinas Dinlle
12.55 Session 2 discussion
13.05 Lunch break
14.05 Session 3: Medieval, early modern and the future
Chair: Tudur Davies
14.05 Katie Hemer: A re-analysis of the human remains from the early medieval community of Ynys Enlli, Gwynedd
14.30 Meredith Hood: Animal exploitation in early medieval Wales: a zooarchaeological study of Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey
14.55 Coffee break
15.10 Andy Seaman: Fonmon Castle Landscape Project: results from the first two years of survey and excavation
15.35 Deanna Groom: Historic Shipwrecks and the Impacts of Climate Change
16.00 Session 3 discussion
16.10 Concluding remarks: Sian Rees, Chairman of CAA Board of Trustees
Abstracts of talks
G.T. CLARK PRIZE SPEAKERS
David Hopewell: Continuity and Change at Tre’r Ceiri Hillfort.
Tre’r Ceiri is a particularly well-preserved stone-built hillfort in north-west Wales. This paper considers evidence from a conservation project in the 1990s, now in the process of publication, that suggests that occupation was in two distinct phases. The first was a typical Iron Age hillfort with a single rampart and 26 roundhouses. There was a substantial remodelling in the later second century AD with the addition of an outer rampart and 145 small irregular buildings.
Jane Kenney (GAT): A Welsh Landscape through Time: Excavations at Parc Cybi, Holy Island, Anglesey.
Drawing by Helen Flook
Excavations by Gwynedd Archaeological Trust in advance of the Parc Cybi development site on Holy Island, Anglesey revealed a complex archaeological landscape, which could be seen evolving from the Mesolithic period through to the present day. This included an Early Neolithic timber hall, a Bronze Age ceremonial complex, an Iron Age settlement, and a late Roman long cist cemetery.
GWOBR ARCHAEOLEG CAMBRIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL AWARD SPEAKERS
Dan Hunt (RCAHMW): Living on the Brink of Coasts and Calamity.
The ancient promontory forts of Pembrokeshire form some of the finest archaeological sites in Wales, but despite this, painfully little is known about them. Living on the Brink explores the story of two of these sites and sets out new ways to approach promontory fort research moving into the future.
Megan Kimmelshue (PhD researcher, Bangor University): Landscape of Myth and Memory: the archaeology of Dinas Dinlle.
Dinas Dinlle is an Iron Age hillfort overlooking Caernarfon Bay near the mouth of the Menai Strait. This paper explores the archaeology recently recovered and considers the site’s role as a “powerful place” within social memory as the childhood home of Lleu Llaw Gyffes from the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.
CAMBRIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION RESEARCH FUND SPEAKERS
Tudur Davies (UWTSD), Oliver Davis (Cardiff University), Stephen Rippon (University of Exeter), Andrew Seaman (Cardiff University) and Niall Sharples (Cardiff University): Beneath the Vale: pollen evidence near Caerau causewayed enclosure and its implications for the beginning of the Neolithic in south Wales.
A new pollen core from a lowland peat bog near Caerau causewayed enclosure provides an indication of environmental conditions contemporary with the site’s occupation. Initial investigations included palaeoenvironmental evidence that suggests a date earlier than expected for the onset of farming. This paper outlines how detailed pollen analysis of this site is providing a better understanding of the early Neolithic in south east Wales.
Katie Hemer (UCL Institute of Archaeology): A re-analysis of the human remains from the early medieval community of Ynys Enlli, Gwynedd.
It is over twenty years since human remains were excavated on Ynys Enlli by Arnold (1998), and there have been significant advances in the field of bioarchaeology since then. This talk presents findings from a re-analysis of the human remains from Tŷ Newydd, specifically considering isotopic evidence for dietary reconstruction and population mobility.
Andy Seaman (Cardiff University): Fonmon Castle Landscape Project: results from the first two years of survey and excavation.
The Fonmon Castle Landscape Archaeology Project aims to explore the environs and long-term historical context of Fonmon Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan. Research is focusing on the demesne of the castle as this area has strong potential for revealing evidence for pre-Norman activity and an antecedent settlement focus. The presentation reports on the first two years of the project, including the results of an extensive geophysical survey and a programme of trial excavation.
Emma Wager (Independent Researcher): Copper Mining and Community at the Bronze Age Great Orme Mine, north Wales.
This talk uses the evidence for Bronze Age copper ore mining at the Great Orme mine to examine issues of community formation at such sites and why this research is relevant to understandings of social life during the second millennium BC.
EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER SPEAKERS
Chris Griffiths (PhD researcher, Amgueddfa Cymru and University of Reading): A hoard from Llanddeusant Community, Carmarthenshire, and its place in Late Bronze Age south Wales.
© Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
In 2020 a hoard of twenty bronze objects was discovered from Llanddeusant Community, Carmarthenshire, including axeheads, spearheads, spear ferrules, a bronze bracelet, fragments of sheet metal and a casting jet. This talk explores what the different objects can tell us about the people who buried them, setting the hoard within the broader context of south Wales during the Late Bronze Age.
Deanna Groom (PhD researcher, Bangor University): Historic Shipwrecks and the Impacts of Climate Change.
Climate Change and its impacts are a growing concern for all concerned with heritage, including the sites underwater and in the intertidal zone around the coast of Wales. This paper presents the results of exciting cross-disciplinary research being undertaken at Bangor University to improve our understanding of what the future may hold for these fragile remains of our seafaring past.
Meredith Hood (PhD researcher, Cardiff University): Animal exploitation in early medieval Wales: a zooarchaeological study of Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey.
© Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
This paper will present preliminary zooarchaeological data from the enclosed early medieval settlement at Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey. The large animal bone assemblage is central to a collaborative PhD project which aims to widen understandings of early medieval diet and farming systems in the North Wales-Irish Sea region.