ARCHAEOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hynafiaethau Cyrmu The Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. VOL. 169 (2020)

Fieldwalking and limited test-pitting around the head of a small tributary valley near the coast at Penpant, Solva, north Pembrokeshire, has amassed a collection of more than 28,000 lithic items. The typological composition of this material is summarised and, despite an absence of stratigraphy or absolute dating, is attributed to successive periods of activity from the Early Mesolithic (c. 8400 cal. BC) until the early Bronze Age (c. 2500 cal. BC). The collection is considered in relation to its wider regional context especially during the later Mesolithic when it is just one instance of a remarkable clustering of activity on or near the coast, a widespread phenomenon in Wales and elsewhere that has long provoked speculation. Whilst a detailed familiarity with such scatters at the surface is all very well the level of information obtained remains highly constrained — a situation that will only change once well stratified deposits accompanied by appropriate levels of organic survival can be discovered, excavated and scientifically analysed.

The study of Wales’ architecture is a well-developed field, but its narratives normally begin with the Iron Age, missing out the dwelling places of people over the preceding 9,000 years since the end of the Ice Age. This paper reviews the available evidence for domestic structures in Wales over this period — scant in the Mesolithic, but with an increasing number of buildings known from the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Key themes illustrated by these buildings are discussed in the text, and a gazetteer provides a summary of the architectural form and chronological evidence for each one.

The article presents an assessment of Roman activity along the Dee Estuary coastal strip in Flintshire, together with reports on recent excavations north-west of Chester Road, Pentre Ffwrndan. A Roman settlement related to the lead industry has been known in this area since the nineteenth century, with the discovery of a number of furnaces, from which the modern settlement takes its name. Excavations in the 1920s and 1930s uncovered the partial plan of several buildings, as well as further evidence for lead working, although it was not until the mid 1970s that any comprehensive investigation was conducted, with the excavation of a Roman official building at Pentre Farm. Recent developer-funded excavations have revealed significant new information, some of which has not been published previously, confirming the presence of a ribbon settlement along the Roman road from Chester to Caernarfon, as well as a cremation cemetery.

The large apsidal tower at the small, ruinous Castell Carndochan is a diagnostic feature of thirteenth-century castles of the princes of Gwynedd. There are, however, no contemporary records of this castle. Survey and trial excavation undertaken between 2014 and 2017 suggest that in its first phase the castle comprised a small, central square tower enclosed by a defensive wall. The castle was subsequently remodelled by the insertion of an apsidal tower, a small D-shaped tower and a round tower into the curtain wall. The castle does not appear to have been intensively occupied and dating evidence is limited. The castle’s setting, the continuity of building techniques and radiocarbon dates suggest that both phases of the castle belong to the reign of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth.

A new reconstruction drawing is presented, suggesting how Ruthin Castle may have appeared towards the end of the medieval period. The reconstruction, commissioned by the Ruthin Castle Conservation Trust and part-funded by the Cambrian Archaeological Association in 2018, draws upon antiquarian descriptions and illustrations of the castle and on survey work commissioned by Cadw.

A small, one-piece oak disc wheel was found during the excavation of a pond at Wern-y-Wîg, Dolanog, near Welshpool, Powys, in 1985. Originally thought to be potentially of prehistoric date has been shown to probably date to the period AD 1400–1650 and may have come from a simple horse-drawn cart, a manure cart, or a wheelbarrow. Though much more recent than anticipated, the wheel is nonetheless the earliest wooden wheel recorded from Wales.