Rethinking hillfort chronologies in northwest Wales: recent work at Meillionydd
speaker: Kate Waddington (Senior Lecturer in Archaeology)
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This talk discusses the results of recent research on the first millennium BC small hillfort of Meillionydd, in Rhiw on the Ll欧n Peninsula. 亚洲色吧鈥檚 excavations at Meillionydd, between 2010-2017, uncovered a densely occupied settlement with several phases of occupation. Recent analyses have transformed understandings of the history of this site. The site was occupied in the Early to Middle Iron Age, when the hillfort was built, first in timber and, shortly afterwards, in stone. The Bayesian analysis of the radiocarbon dates has significantly refined the chronological sequence and it has revealed two short-lived hillfort phases, followed by a short gap in occupation before the monument was reconfigured as an open settlement.
This has enabled us to think about the history and occupation of the hillfort on a generational level, and it questions traditional understandings in Iron Age archaeology of long-lived and uninterrupted hillfort traditions spanning several centuries. The results are in line with recent dating work in other regions of Britain. 听The evidence from Meillionydd will be compared to other Iron Age settlements and hillforts within the region and further afield, in order to think more critically about the nature of Iron Age settlement traditions and social change.