|
These pages contain details of work undertaken on this site since 1999.
The discovery of a very large slag dump in 1999 constituted the most significant new site located during the Miskin Project. The extremely large size of the dump lead to early speculation that this site might be of Tudor age and be associated with the documented iron-making of the 1530s and 1540s. The results of the first campaign of geophysical exploration in 2000 (organised as a teaching exercise for Cardiff University) were still interpreted as suggesting a water-powered bloomery, but in addition probable Roman activity was found on the adjacent hilltop.
The geophysical survey was "ground-truthed" by evaluation excavation in 2002 (run as a training dig for Cardiff University) and not only was Roman activity confirmed on the hilltop, but a working platform associated with the main slag dump was also demonstrated to be Roman, indicating that the main slag dump was also almost certainly Roman. Both areas produced evidence suggesting iron-making took place from the latest 1st or early 2nd century to early in the 3rd century. As a consequence of this discovery a second geophysical campaign was conducted in the spring of 2003 (again a Cardiff University teaching exercise), which lead to the recognition that the Roman iron-smelting settlement overlay an earlier Roman timber fort. Geophysical work in the autumn of 2003 extended the survey to the south of the M4, with negative results.
At the beginning of 2004 it was realised that levelling operations by the farmer had exposed Roman deposits close to the postulated location of the west gateway of the fort; plans were put in place for excavation in the summer. Meanwhile, a third season of geophysical work (again for the Cardiff University course) clarified the extent of the settlement to the north and west, and also located the southern defences of the fort. The excavation in the summer of 2004 (directed jointly with Dr Peter Guest of Cardiff University) confirmed the western defences of the fort in the expected location, provided dating evidence for the fort (AD 70-75 to 80-85) and also produced evidence for a later phase of occupation (late 3rd to 4th century) which had not been seen in 2002.
Further details of the Caergwanaf Roman site:
Latest information
Previous reports:
Other information: