Last Sunday (6 August 2006) I had the great pleasure of attending the open day for the Dyffryn Lane Henge excavation. This excavation is being carried out by the Clwyd and Powys Archaeological Trust and the University of Bradford Department of Archaeological Sciences under the direction of the renowned Dr Alex Gibson. It certainly was an eye-opener to see what lay beneath what appeared to be a flat field with no discernable man-made features when I visited the site along with the nearby Maen Beuno standing stone earlier in the year in March 2006.
Dr Alex Gibson together with Ian Grant and Abi from CPAT and all the excavators from Bradford University were very hospitable on this warm sunny day and kindly interrupted their work to show the prehistoric remains uncovered and share the many secrets that the excavation has revealed so far.
The Dyffryn Lane Henge is complex site consisting of three monuments which are interrelated but built many hundreds or even over a thousand years apart. The site is a 80 metres diameter henge (a circular ditch with an external bank created with the soil from the ditch) within which lies a stone circle and a round barrow. One of the prime objectives of the project is to determine when and in which order the three monuments were built.
Throughout the day Dr Alex and Ian took groups of visitors around the three main focus areas of the excavation which were the stone circle and barrow, the section though the ditch and bank and finally, three pits discovered in the south east section of henge.
The excavation reveals half of the stone circle with six stones and one large stone hole visible forming a perfect semi-circle. Undoubtedly further stones or stone holes are to be found in the unexcavated western half of the circle.
The round barrow, most of which has been destroyed by ploughing over the years, was 40 metres in diameter and sat directly over the stone circle. During excavation of the remaining lower layers of the barrow, a beautiful, finely worked barbed and tanged flint arrowhead of Bronze Age date was found by excavator Holly Crawford. Holly was at the open day and I must say that she was looking particularly pleased with herself as this treasure was shown to visitors. And so she should be - an incredible find!
The trenches dug in a previous investigation of the stone circle and barrow in 1857 by D. Phillips Lewis have also been found. The soil that he piled back into his trenches has been re-examined and small pieces of burnt bone have been found which confirms the reports that cremations were found in 1857.
The excavated section of the henge ditch shows that it was 2.1 metres deep and 5 metres wide. The outer bank built from the earth from the ditch was at least 1 metre and maybe up to 2 metres in height.
The building of this 80 metre henge was a major undertaking requiring a lot of hard work by a large workforce, a point made to me by excavator Rachel Stebbings based on the team's back breaking experience of digging out a small section again.
Three pits have been found on the eastern side of the henge. Two of the pits were dug into the bank and contained burnt hazel nuts which will provide vital radio carbon dating information. One pit was dug into the soil underneath the bank and therefore predates the henge. In this pit many fragments of Neolithic 'Peterborough Ware' pottery have been found.
Indeed, throughout the open day, bits of pot were literally flying out of this pit. It was a incredible experience to actually see an excavator retrieve a fragment from the ground, last seen about 5000 years ago, and to be shown the artefact seconds later. I was particularly taken by the rim of a pot intricately decorated with thumbnail marks.
Dr Alex gave us the latest thinking on the build order of the three monuments based on the site evidence so far before carbon dating and other post excavation analysis. The stone circle was built first in the Neolithic era. The barrow was built next and although the stone circle was respected by the barrow builders, it was completely covered by the barrrow. The barrow is of early Bronze Age date. The henge was built last encircling the two previous monuments. As henges are generally associated with the late Neolithic, this 'Bronze Age' henge might shake the tree a little bit and cause a rethink on this type of prehistoric construction.
Celebrity watchers might care to note that the very esteemed Frances Lynch, one of our foremost experts on British and Irish Prehistory and veteran of many excavations in Wales, was 'in the house' or more appropriately 'in the field'.
The current plans are for the stone circle to be covered up after the excavation and the field to be returned to the farmer. However Dr Alex did mention the possibility that CADW, as guardians of this scheduled monument, could and might buy part of the field and restore the stone circle. That sounds an excellent idea. And CADW, could you please reconstruct the henge at the same time? Now that would be something!
Please check the dig diary for all the latest data and news on this extraordinary excavation.
Dyffryn Lane Henge Project
Dig Diary
Location: Powys, Wales
Grid Ref: SJ20440140