The Big Dig – The Results
Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society kick off the Autumn/Winter Series of illustrated talks with…
The Twmbarlwm Big Dig – The Results
An Illustrated talk by
Will Logan BA,Dip,ACIfA
CPAT’s team leader of the archaeological dig on Twmbarlwm 2021-22
On Wednesday 2nd October 2024
at Crosskeys RFC
Doors open at 7.00pm ready for a 7.30pm start.
Archaeological investigation on Twmbarlwm, Risca, south Wales. performed by Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust; organised by Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society, Funded by Cadw
You will recall that an archaeological investigation was carried out on behalf of CTS by Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT)* under the advice of the Welsh Government’s Heritage department, Cadw.
Whether you consider them to be Prehistoric, medieval or almost anything in between, the earthworks on Twmbarlwm are unknown to history until the post-medieval period when the hill began to appear in property deeds and the first cartographers and antiquarians explored the historic county of Monmouthshire.
Following work in 2019 and 2021 a further series of archaeological investigations were carried out at Twmbarlwm during 2022, under the overall direction of the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust*. Excavation and other fieldwork, including the logistics was carried out by volunteers from Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society.
Some days were better than others weatherwise – but the volunteers were quite stoical and stuck to the job in hand.
The impetus for these investigations was a large fire in 2018 which impacted the vegetation cover and underlying topsoil. Subsequently, Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society, in association with Cadw, drew up a programme for the work which was intended to inform proposals for the restoration and revegetation of the site, and to improve its understanding and interpretation.
The investigation in 2022 consisted of five trenches and an auger transect, to further investigate the defensive enclosure, a possible prehistoric funerary cairn and the probably medieval motte and ditch. The results provided a useful insight into the continued and varied usage of the site over a period of over 5000 years.
Many volunteers helped out in all sorts of weather and we’d like to thank them all for their hard work and I’m sure they’d be interested to hear what the archaeologists had to say about the discoveries.
CPAT have since produced reports of their findings (which are all available to download from our website) – and the purpose of this talk is to provide a less technical explanation of their findings.
Will Logan BA, Dip, ACIfA, was the team leader of the project in 2022 and with Richard Hankinson and Tim Malin, co-authored the final archaeological report – he will explain in simple terms, the findings of the reports and hopefully shed some light on the origins of the iconic hill fort on the summit of Mynydd Twmbarlwm.
Will Davies, Inspector of Ancient Momuments (East Wales) for Cadw, will also be on hand to explain the role that Cadw played in investigating the historical and archaeological significance of Twmbarlwm.
This promises to be a fascinating and informative talk that the Society and our volunteers have long anticipated with keen interest.
Volunteers had the opportunity to stand in the base of the trench following in the footsteps of our ancestors of over 3,000 years ago.
Entry to the talk is FREE to CTS members or £3.00 to non-members (you can become a member of CTS for £10 on the night if you wish)
Drinks available at the Bar ~
A raffle will be held on the night (donations of prizes to the raffle are very welcome)
All proceeds go towards the work of Cymdeithas Twmbarlwm Society
USEFUL LINKS
Here’s a list of documents available from the Twmbarlwm Society website (https://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/archaeology-documents-download/):
Luminesence Measurements of a Monolith Sample From Twmbarlwm
https/::www.twmbarlwm.co.uk:wp-content:uploads:2023:11:Twmbarlwm_2023_v4_OSL_results.pdf
Twmbarlwm 2022, Archaeological Investigation
https://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2416_Twmbarlwm_2022_CPAT_report_1918.pdf
Twmbarlwm 2021, Archaeological Investigation
https://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/220323_CPAT_Report_No_1820_final_draft_te_all_lo.pdf
CPAT Non-Technical Summary – Twmbarlwm 2021, Archaeological Investigation
https://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/220804_Twmbarlwm_NTS_v2_CTS_lo.pdf
Geophysical Investigations 2019 and 2021
https://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Twmbarlwm_Geophys_2021_lo.pdf
Geophysical Investigations 2019 (Summary of 1st Phase)
https://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Twmbarlwm_Summary_Phase1_lo.pdf
A Pollen Analytic Assessment of Sub-samples from Three Cores at Twmbarlwm
https://www.twmbarlwm.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Twmbarlwm_Pollen_Assessment_report_2020_lo.pdf
Please note: * On 1st April 2024 the four Welsh archaeological trusts (including CPAT) merged to form Heneb – as a result, CPAT is now known as Heneb – CPA
You could help us out and download the poster below, print it out and display it where everyone can see it.
MORE INFORMATION
The blog of the two digs is still on the website www.twmbarlwm.co.uk together with many galleries of photos.
For news of future events, please keep a look out for announcements through this newsletter, our website and Facebook pages
