Archaeol Wales 46

An archaeological watching brief prior to gravel extraction in 2003 at Blaen y Cae Farm, near Bryncir, identified five charcoal-filled pits and another pit containing a decorated pot of Early Bronze Age style. Exposure of a wider area revealed five more pits and several shallow hollows and spreads. Excavation revealed in total two pits with urns, three pits with cremated bone but no pots and six charcoal-filled pits with no pots or bone. A later watching brief revealed a further charcoal-filled pit on the same line as the cremations. Radiocarbon dates from three pits confirmed that this was a small cremation cemetery of the Early Bronze Age, in use within the period 2100--1750 cal BC. Separately authored contributions include

The paper presents the results for Glamorgan of a project to visit and record all known prehistoric funerary and ritual sites in the former counties of Glamorgan and Gwent.

A foundation trench for a section of replacement wall to Castle Street car park, Abergavenny, was archaeologically excavated in 1999. The majority of the trench was filled with the remains of the rampart of the Roman fort. From the evidence of unworn Neronian coins stratified under it, the standing rampart could be shown to date to the mid-60s AD. This is almost a decade later than previously thought. An argument is put forward, however, to show that the pre-Flavian fort was probably refurbished after destruction rather than being entirely rebuilt. A small but important group of finds dated by the coins was sealed by and stratified in burnt debris beneath the main body of the rampart. An earlier excavation at Ewers' Garden (33 Castle Street) is also published and compared. The site of the Ewers' Garden excavation and the wall to the car park show that the published plan of the 1972--3 Orchard excavations located that site too far to the northwest. The significance of the relocation of the Orchard excavations and of all three excavations for the history of the Roman fort at Abergavenny and southeast Wales in general is discussed. Separately authored contributions include

Report presenting preliminary findings from twenty principal areas of archaeological excavation undertaken in 2006 along the route of a new pipeline linking the Milford Haven liquefied natural gas terminal in Pembrokeshire to Aberdulais AGI, Neath Port Talbot. All of the excavations reported were in Pembrokeshire or Carmarthenshire west of the River Towy. Separately authored site reports include

at South Treffgarne Farm, Llampeter Velfrey (site 506, SN 1607 1208); Canaston Wood, Narberth (site 516, SN 093 139 and site 517, SN 078 142 and SN 088 141); Conkland Hill, Wiston (site 510, SN 025 174); Church Hill Farm, Uzmaston (site 507, SM 976 147 and site 515, SM 969 143); Steynton Farm, Steynton (site 512, SM 9160 0833); and Upper Neeston Farm, Herbrandston (site 511/514, SM 8795 0745)

Brief interim account of fieldwork carried out during 2006, focusing on walk-over surveys and mapping along the southern slopes of the Carn Meini outcrops and the carns themselves. A basic model of activity emerged on a linear sequence of quarry-pits dug to exploit a band of meda-mudstone at the foot of the slope, followed by later exploitation of the spotted dolerite (`bluestone') which created a further scatter of material. One or both of these phases are associated with settlement represented by a group of round houses at the east end of the ridge and a single round house near the centre. Evidence for later exploitation of the bluestone is represented by occasional quarries with evidence of mechanical drilling and clusters of debris around partly broken-up earthfast boulders which usually include cases of metal wedges still embedded in rock fissures. A scatter of crude rectangular structures associated with enclosures was recognised; these seem to have had an agrarian purpose. In addition, the geophysical survey of Banc Du was continued and radiocarbon dates obtained for the ditch of the enclosure excavated in 2005. Notes are also included on surface finds and a cup-marked stone at Llanferran Farm, Pencaer. Includes

Notes on a programme of excavation and survey undertaken on the site of the Dyffryn Lane henge complex near Berriew, south of Welshpool. The excavations demonstrated that a stone circle pre-dated the mound, and that this had become ruinous by the time of the mound's construction.

Preliminary report on work forming part of a wider project which aims to reconstruct the landscapes of Roman and early medieval Gower, and to chart the `transformation' from one to the other. As the Roman landscape of east Gower seems relatively well known, the primary objective was to search for the Roman settlements in the western part of the Peninsula by a range of techniques including air photography, fieldwalking, geophysical survey and, when appropriate, small-scale excavation. Initial research concentrated on finding fields which contained the place-name element `black', used elsewhere to identify the location of possible Roman sites. Disregarding those sites which stand on the edge of the south Wales coalfield (where the name may indicate only the presence of coal close to the surface), work focused on four sites: Black Park Farm, Llanrhidian (SS 499 918); Black Five Acres and Bettland, New Henllys Farm, Llandewi (SS 450 893); Blacklands, Lower Harding's Down Farm, Llangennith (SS 448 905); and Black Marles Field, The Bank Farm, Scurlage (SS 466 881).

Interim report on a low mound at the landward edge of a fixed sand-dune system on the Castlemartin Army Training Estate, in the vicinity of which excavations had taken place in the 1880s, which had found a number of burials in stone coffins. The observation of human bone in the spoil from a badger set near the barrow led to a programme of badger exclusion followed by archaeological excavation, one aim of which was to assess the impact of burrowing animals and to trial exclusion methodologies. An early medieval cist-grave cemetery was uncovered comprising thirty burials of at least fifty-two individuals, in a mixture of cists, simple dug graves and disarticulated bone in small pits.

Report on a small-scale research excavation undertaken at St Michael's Church, Abergele, during 2005 and 2006, which provided information about an isolated length of surviving masonry wall, as well as uncovering a previously unknown medieval grave slab, re-used as the threshold for the priest's doorway and tentatively attributed to the fourteenth century. Its position suggests that the south nave wall is of later date. The exterior of a subterranean vault at the northeast corner of the church was also investigated but the vault was shown to be empty, and remains undated. Indications were found that the churchyard may have been levelled or landscaped several times during the post-medieval period.

Numerous short, separately authored notes of archaeological work carried out in Wales during 2006. The gazetteer is divided into separate sections for surveys (143--172); portable antiquities (173--179); general assessments (180--181); prehistory (182--189); Roman (190--204); early Christian and medieval (205--217); post-medieval (218--230); industrial and recent (231--236); undated and miscellaneous (237--238); and environmental archaeology (239--241). With the exception of the first two and the last sections, entries are arranged alphabetically by county and within counties by town or parish. The section on surveys includes a sub-section on RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance and four regional sub-sections, within which entries are arranged as for the other main sections; the section on portable antiquities includes sub-sections of finds recorded in various specific regions, and entries for artefacts and coins are listed separately in chronological groups. Includes