Twmbarlwm Dig 2022
Day 5

Friday 12th August 2022

CANCELLED

After yesterday’s searing temperatures at the top and with the Met Office amber warning of extreme temperatures for the coming weekend it was decided to abandon the dig until Monday. Hence I spent last night emailing all the volunteers who were due to join us this weekend about the cancellation. So only one volunteer turned up because he hadn’t looked at his email this morning.

However I met up with the CPAT team to discuss progress and they went off to the top to check out the site and ensure it was secure for the weekend – fortunately none of the trenches are at any great depth to cause any hazards to passers by.

In the meanwhile Will of CPAT has given me the following apparaisal of the work so far:

Twmbarlwm Excavation 2022- Week One

The excavation team featured four archaeologists from the Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, including grizzled veteran and team leader Richard Hankinson, ably assisted by the only slightly less grizzled Will Logan, and the decidedly ungrizzled Sophie Cooledge and Jake Rowe, the latter being the Trust Community Archaeologist. The excellent Will Davies was also on hand from CADW and seemed keen to get back his roots as a field archaeologist. The bulk of the assistance however was drawn from the large team of volunteers, largely from the local area, who were undaunted by the scorching conditions or the intimidating climb just to reach the digging site.

The first trench to be opened investigated a semi circular spread of stone forming part of the southern defensive circuit of the site. The stone here appears to be largely dumped or upcast material, probably excavated from the lower part of the ditch. If so this does usefully inform the construction method for the construction of the bank. It is not yet clear whether there was any structural function to this deposition, as the foundation of a structure for example. As in previously years the excavating team were much fascinated by the profusion of Carboniferous fossillised wood remnants preserved in this stone work.

A second trench was opened in a gap in the line of the bank and ditch, also on the southern side of the site. Hopefully this trench will determine whether this section of the hillfort defences was either never completed or that it was built but then subsequently removed.

The final of the three planned trenches was excavated to investigate a possible cairn located adjacent to the motte, and also to investigate the relationship between this cairn and a series of cultivation marks running from east to west across the interior of the site. An additional investigation using an auger will also look at the adjacent motte and ditch.

It was hoped that this week’s excavation would continue into Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but with prevailing temperatures predicted to exceed 35 degrees Celsius and no available shade in the vicinity of the site the decision was taken to cancel the work planned for these days. This decision was made much easier because of the extremely decent progress made so far, with all three planned areas of excavation now open, and ready to be more fully investigated. The work is well ahead of schedule.

Don’t forget to follow CPAT’s Twitter feed too

And here’s a gallery of some of Will’s photos: