In 1992 survey and excavation was carried out at Llancynfelin near Trerddol, Ceredigionon, on the three sites of early mine workings previously identified during field walking on the basis of their association with primitive cobble stone tools.
At one of the sites a small open cut working and associated spoil mound (Site A) on a copper vein was found to have been partly inundated by peat along the earlier shoreline of the “island” (or isthmus) previously surrounded by Borth Bog. A radiocarbon date of between 1745 and 1645 yrs cal BC was obtained from charcoal associated with fire set mine waste and stone tools, whilst a small branch resting on top of the now waterlogged mine spoil provided an Early Medieval date for the base of the overlying peat (Timberlake 1995)
These sites at Llancynfelin are interesting in that they show some evidence for systematic prospecting (“pitting”) along the back of a vein which had been followed across the summit of the “island” (sites A, B & C)
Possibly the same vein system was picked up by the prehistoric miners on the landward side of the bog at Pwll Roman Mine, Taliesin. Stone mining tools were found at the latter site by Simon Timberlake in 2004.
These sites around Borth Bog form one of the densest groupings of Bronze Age metal mines in the UK.
This website was made possible by a grant from the Cambrian Archaeology Association
Archaeological section on buried edge of bog.
Photograph of excavation trench (S. Timberlake)
With hammer stones in 1992.
