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Stories from stones
There's clearly more than meets the eye to many of the various humps and bumps and piles of stone that represent the ancient remains of the Aber Valley. An archaeological dig carried out by local people and students from the University of Wales, Bangor and the University of Sheffield during August and September last year unearthed a complex story of past life in the valley. Many readers will be familiar with the site which is located immediately alongside the main trackway through Coedydd Aber NNR a few hundred metres before the falls. Prior to excavation it looked like a grassy mound of stones with a hollow in its centre surrounding a large upright stone. There was also possible semi-circular platform between the stone mound and the trackway. Archaeologists thought that the features were the remains of a four thousand year old burial cairn built around a standing stone.
In fact, we found that the semi-circular 'platform' was a well preserved roundhouse, 6.5m (internal) diameter, with walls surviving up to 2m wide and 0.5m high. Its interior had been filled with stone rubble to make a level surface after the house had been abandoned. Beneath the stone rubble were floor deposits into which a number of pits had been dug, indicating cooking and storage activities. The roundhouse is probably Iron Age (between about 2700 and 2000 years ago) in date. It is likely to be contemporary with a group of roundhouses located about 50m away to the south east on the other side of the track. The remains of other similar roundhouses are located at intervals through out the valley. The Iron Age landscape of the valley probably looked very different to that
of today, with a series of busy family farmsteads scattered along it.
The date of the stone rubble infill is unclear, but the mound of stone around the standing stone was built on top of it, showing that the mound feature was later in date than the roundhouse. This threw our previous ideas into disarray; the mound couldn't be a prehistoric burial cairn if it was older than the roundhouse - so what was it? Careful excavation revealed that the mound had some structure to it in the form of roughly built walls forming an oval 6.5m x 5m incorporating the standing stone and enclosing a crudely paved floor surface of large stone slabs. We were still baffled. Was this a later house of some kind? Further work gave us the answer. It is a kiln where cereal grain would have been dried prior to storage or processing into flour. A 4m long channel runs into the middle of the paved floor surface ending in circular I m deep chamber. The channel and chamber were full of dark charcoal rich soil and the stones which lined them had been scorched red by heat and flames in places. Grain drying kilns worked by drawing hot air from a fire at one end of a channel (or flue) into a central chamber where it heated and dried grain which was either placed directly into the chamber itself, or laid on sacking stretched out over the top of it.
Other examples are known from around Britain, but they are rare in north Wales. One found at Cefn Graeanog, at Brithdir near Clynnog Fawr, Gwynedd was eleventh century AD in date, i.e. about 1000 years old, but consisted only of the flue channel and chamber. The Aber example is exciting because of the paved floor surface and oval wall which form a part of the structure rarely survive. The wall could have taken a temporary roof, perhaps of skins, fabric or scrub thatch and the paved floor surface would have provided a wider area for the drying of sheaves as well as separated grain. The Aber kiln is probably about the same age as the Cefn Graeanog example, possibly a bit more recent. The kiln confirms other evidence for the growing of cereal crops in the vicinity, not something which we associate with the area today, during the medieval period. We hope that by studying samples we took during the excavation specialists will be able to tell what kinds of crops (barley, oats and rye are likely candidates) were grown and to reconstruct past farming techniques. The stone rubble infill to the roundhouse might have been laid down immediately prior to the construction of the kiln, to be used as a yard area for storing sheaves of grain before drying as well as for threshing to remove the grain from the sheaves.
The kiln and the roundhouse clearly don't tell the complete story of the site though. The tall stone is still an enigma. It was incorporated into the oval wall of the kiln, and may have helped to hold up the kiln's temporary roof, but must be much older than the kiln because evidence suggests that it also formed part of the roundhouse, in this case as a roof support for an entrance porch. Further work is needed to tell us more about its relationship to the roundhouse, but early indications are that it predates the house. This suggests that it could indeed be a 4000 year old prehistoric standing stone. So, might there also be a cairn on the site as well after all? The complexities of this year's findings meant that we didn't have time to completely excavate the site, so this is a question for the future. However, it is tempting to speculate that a stony bank beneath the outer edge of the kiln may be a relict section of cairn. Furthermore, was the mass of stone used to build the roundhouse, and subsequently the kiln, robbed from a burial cairn that formerly occupied the site?
There were, typically of upland prehistoric settlement sites, relatively few artefacts. We were pleased to find another chunk of the same quern stone (grain grinding stone) as a fragment found during trial excavations at the site during Easter 2005.The two pieces were both found in what we now know to be the oval wall around the kiln; despite fitting together precisely they were found in different parts of the wall. The quern is most likely Iron Age in date and the incorporation of the fragments into the oval wall shows that the house was partially robbed for materials to build the kiln. A small perforated worn slate disc was also found in the oval wall. It is a spindle whorl used as a weight when spinning wool into yarn, and is again most likely re-deposited from the roundhouse. We also found a small stone mortar or grinding bowl and numerous fire-cracked and utilised stones demonstrating burning, pounding and smoothing activities associated with the roundhouse. A piece of fourteenth century AD pottery, probably from a small jug or vase, was found near the kiln. Because it wasn't found in direct association with the kiln, it can't be used to date it. However, it is tempting to see them as related - was the kiln in use during this period?
We will be able to date the features found during the excavation more accurately, and say more about their function and use, once further analysis has been carried out. This will include specialist dating by the radiocarbon method as well as the study of plant remains and pollen from samples taken during the dig. The work should tell us about how the landscape around the site has changed over time and about the plants that people grew at different points. We hope to return to the site to carry on with the project and to find answers to remaining questions. However we have encountered a problem with our funding and so development of the project and subsequent initiatives is on hold for the time being. It is unlikely that we will be in a position to continue with the excavation this coming summer, but will aim to return at a later date once we have a secure idea of our funding situation and after the various outstanding analyses are completed. It is hoped to present a talk and/or a small exhibition in the village about the results and findings of last summer's excavations once we have been able to complete the work.
The excavation was run by Tirwedd Dyffryn Aber cyf. a local not-for-profit company which has arisen out of the Aber Heritage Valley Partnership and which aims to provide ways of getting involved in finding out about Abergwyngregyn's past.
The work formed part of the Aber Revelation Project which was grant-aided by the Countryside Council for Wales as part of their European Union Objective One funded Visitor Facilities for National Nature Reserves project.
The excavation was accompanied by a series of events such as a living history weekend, an artist in residence, guided walks and kids' activities. The project team would like to thank everybody who came along and took an interest. We are especially grateful to the band of excavation volunteers for all their hard work and enthusiasm
John Griffith Roberts.
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