Welsh Detectorists pinpoint 'Iron Age feasting site"

[proconsul]

A little bird tells me that a major archaeological dig is being conducted somewhere in South Wales at the moment on what is thought to be an 'iron age feasting site'. The site was brought to light by metal detecting finds and staff from the PAS are fully involved in the dig.

Hopefully this will generate some positive publicity for Welsh detectorists.

Geoff

[Neil]

I know a bit more about that Geoff - I'll fill you in when I see you. It has produced gold finds from the period as well! It got a mention at the probate hearing I attended. Interesting location.

Cheers
Neil

[hedgehog]

Just had a quick look at it, unfortunately there is a note that the detectorists didn't know which hole each piece came out of!

http://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/the-champions-portion-prehistoric-feasting-at-llanmaes.htm

[daf.vinci]

Very interesting link hedgehog.

[1morecoin]

Hi  Lads,  I found the site a good few years ago with a friend of mine, axe heads and many other pieces of Bronze came up along with a mass of bones and pottery, the site has been in use since the Bronze age, with a long use by the Iron age people and Romans, the site is very important as it seems that it was the centre for Bronze age feasting with Chieftans visiting from all over Europe, we have had a good few Roman coins and artefacts at the site aswell, apart from the pieces of Gold that turned up a rare silver Celtic unit turned up on one of the excavations.

The site has had so much interest in it that there has been a film and a song written about it.

All this came from quick recording with the Portable Antiquities scheme and responsible detecting.

Cheers,

Steve.

[jaydogg]

I had the guided tour at this site a couple of years ago with the uni.  It's a late Iron Age site with some small amount of Roman occupation set within an enclosure.  There is also a seemingly bottomless midden here also which produced the unworked bit of gold.  Archaeologists always seem to get excited about piles of bones – must be ritual feasting rather than a rubbish dump - what imaginations they have.  It’s the same with broken weapons, everything has to be ‘ritual’ rather than just items which have been broken through everyday use.  Funny enough ‘1morecoin’ it was said this site was found by metal detectorists so credit where it is due I guess. 

[outlaw]

Out of curiosity, are the two detectorists still able to detect on the area they found ?

[1morecoin]

The site has not been scheduled believe it or not, but i still pop there on occasion, nothing of interest has turned up since, saying that the finds were very deep with the deepest axe coming from a measured 22 inches. There are more finds there especially Roman coins but i think they may be out of reach of most machines.
The Guy who was with me when we found the site has packed the hobby in.

Steve.

[The Doc]

Well done Steve. I think the way you have been able to work with the museum and yet are still able to detect there is a lesson to those scaremongers that believe you will be thrown off land by archaeologists if you report anything significant.

[1morecoin]

Thanks Peter,  I was thinking of asking Mark Lodwig if he would give us a talk about the site at one of the meetings, to be fair Mark Lodwig and Adam Gwilt have been excellent, I have been invited to help the Archaeologists on all of the excavations, though I have not spent that much time there due to other commitments, but nevertheless they don't do anything until they have cleared it with me first, which I think shows a lot of respect towards me as the finder.
This has all come from being honest from the start. We have a verbal agreement that anything older than Tudor is to be kept together with the original finds, I am happy with this as I think the people of Wales should be able to see that this site is not just an important Welsh site but is one of the most important sites in Europe and a big part of our Heritage.

Steve.

[hedgehog]

As Peter said, well done Steve! I don't know why it hasn't been scheduled though? Something as important as that!

[waltonbasinman]

If the site is of buried remains and has been ploughed for the last 200 years with modern deep ploughing it would make no sense to schedule it. Scheduling usually applies to upstanding remains.

[1morecoin]

None of the archaeology has been disturbed by ploughing as it is very deep, the farmer has been there for about fifty years and he told me he has never seen the field ploughed in all those years. Mark Lodwig told me that they have no intensions of Scheduling the site, maybe that will change if they find a Torc on one of the excavations.
Mark told me that there has never been an Iron Age Torc recorded in Wales yet, plenty of Bronze Age Torcs but no Iron Age Torcs, If one ever is found he said you could'nt imagine how important it would be, he also told me that this site could produce one, thats probably why the museum has a written agreement with the landowner that anything found on the excavations goes with the rest of the finds regardless of whether it is treasure or not, I did mention the fact to the farmer that if they find a hoard of Torcs that he would'nt get a penny for them from the museum, he did'nt seem that bothered, mind you he is loaded anyway no money worries there.
I have been asked not do dig deeper than about six inches on this site, so as not to disturb any of the older archaeology, this seems a bit severe as the archaeology is way deeper than this and most finds of interest are below 6 inches so bang goes the Victorian stuff as well. I have just decided to dig any signal, if it seems to be very deep I will mark the area and give Mark Lodwig a call, I think that is fair for both of us.

Steve.