2012 Season - PEN12

Our first season at Penycloddiau took place between 22 July and 17 August, with 44 students. Work commenced north of the hillfort’s eastern entrance on the inner rampart – our trench location chosen by Cadw – where a presumed modern farm track had cut through both inner and outer earthworks. Our research aims this year were to:
  • provide information for future management of the monument
  • assess the survival of prehistoric remains
  • gain an understanding of inner rampart structure
Liverpool students began by working to document recent episodes of damage to the scheduled monument, including sheep-scrapes, the trackway, and foot traffic deposits along the rampart crest. Work in Area 2 revealed the remains of a destroyed stone superstructure, with 19th century ceramics perhaps documenting the rise in visitors to the site. Work in Area 1 revealed four separate phases of rampart collapse/decay, which were removed and began to reveal intact rampart deposits – an apparent earth/turf and stone brash core, with external stone facing, and a series of late large-diameter timber features (to be investigated 2013).
In just 18 days, with mostly first-time excavators, we learned a lot about the construction, decay/collapse and subsequent destruction of the hillfort at Penycloddiau. Next season we will extend Area 1 across the ditch and counterscarp bank to begin phasing, stratigraphically, all three earthworks.

No comments:

Post a Comment