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THE EARLY SETTLERS OF CARNARVON

SHIRE.

BY PROFESSOR E. ANWYL, M.A.

CARNARVONSHIRE has been more fortunate than some of the other counties of Wales in attracting the attention of students of Welsh prehistoric archæology. The volumes of the Archæologia Cambrensis bear eloquent testimony to the interest which has been felt in the early remains of this county, in such articles as those of the Rev. H. Longueville Jones, the Rev. Hugh Prichard, the Rev. W. Wynn Williams, the Rev. E. L. Barnwell, the Rev. Elias Owen, Sir T. D. LoveJones-Parry, Professor C. C. Babington, and others of a later period. There has been a revival of interest within recent years in the early antiquities of the district in connection with the exploration at Trerceiri, and the wider question of the origin and epoch of the early stone fortresses of the British Isles. This latter question, too, is part of the still wider subject of the distinctive characteristics of the Bronze and Iron stages of civilisation. In connection with these topics it is important to emphasise the fact that it is only by means of excavation and careful exploration that the various problems which arise can be solved, and that funds are greatly needed in order to carry out a thoroughly systematic archæological survey of the Principality. We have reason to be very grateful to those members of the Society who have commenced the exploration of Trerceiri with highly encouraging results.

No traces of Paleolithic man appear to have been found in Carnarvonshire. The district is not rich in spacious caves; so that if the relatives of the cave-men of the Vale of Clwyd entered it in Palæolithic times, they would have had to construct their own shelters as

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best they could, of earth, wood, or stone, wherever natural shelter was unavailable. Of Neolithic man, however, there are abundant traces in the "cromlechau," the surviving stony skeletons of their tombs. Photographs (reproduced in collotype) of these, together with those of Anglesey, have been published, with a letterpress description of each, in a handy volume by Mr. John E. Griffith, F.L.S., F.R.A.S. (Jarvis and Foster, Bangor, 1900). Mr. Griffith very properly expresses his doubt whether the Coetan Arthur Cromlech, near Carnarvon, is a cromlech at all, and that on the opposite page found at Bryn, in the parish of Llanfairisgaer, seems doubtful also. The genuine "cromlechau" appear to be the following: (1) That known as Lletty y filiast, on the Great Orme's Head. (2) That called "Yr Hen Allor," in the parish of Llandegai, near a small farm called Ffynnon Bach. (3) That found on a farm called Penarth, about a mile and a-half from Clynnog. (4) That which stands nearer still to Clynnog village, in a field belonging to Bachwen Farm. (5) The Cefn isaf Cromlech, about two and a-half miles north-east of Criccieth. (6) The Ystumcegid Cromlech, about three miles east of Criccieth. (7) That found on a farm called "Cromlech," near the village of Fourcrosses. (8) The neatly-shaped Cefn Amwlch Cromlech (locally known as Coetan Arthur), on the Cefn Amwlch side of Mynydd Cefn Amwlch or Mynydd Penllech. By the side of this are the remains of another cromlech. (9) That of Cilan Ucha, in the parish of Llanengan. (10) The Mynydd Tir Cwmmwd Cromlech, in the parish of Llanbedrog. (11) That known as Cwt y bugail, near Roewen; and (12) The Porth Llwyd Cromlech, near Trefriw. These "cromlechau" are doubtless the remains of the graves of chieftains or other important personages, and are of interest as indicating in all probability the old Neolithic centres of population in the districts where they occur. It is not impossible, too, that these ancient sepulchres bore originally some resemblance in their structure to

the primitive dwellings, or rather night-shelters, of the men of these parts, whose building materials would consist almost entirely at first of stones, earth, and clay, wood being scarce, as large tracts of Carnarvonshire were probably almost treeless even in remote times. The mind of early man in these districts would be continually haunted by earth and stones, and so he naturally developed considerable ingenuity in making the best use of these materials. The character of the early remains of man is generally conditioned by local necessities, and this appears to be verified in the case of "cromlechau." As the Rev. E. L. Barnwell pointed out in the Archæologia Cambrensis for 1874, there are hardly any traces of "cromlechau" in Wales, except in the counties of Pembroke, Merioneth, Carnarvon, Brecon, Anglesey, and Glamorgan. This connection of cromlechau" with a supply of suitable stones is strikingly shown in the case of Merioneth, the western portion of which has far more early stone remains in it than the eastern. In Pembrokeshire the greatest number of “cromlechau" are found where trap rocks are strewn over the surface; while in Anglesey there are numerous quartzose blocks that are very well adapted for megalithic structures. The same is also the case in Cornwall, Lower Brittany, and Guernsey. This relationship between the natural supply of material and the erection of" cromlechau" and other megalithic structures is well brought out by M. Emile Cartailhac, in his valuable works on the "Prehistoric Age in France and in Spain and Portugal."

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In dealing with man in the prehistoric period, we can conveniently regard him in the environment (a) of his life; (b) of his death. As for Neolithic man in the surroundings of his life, it cannot be said that any of the remains of ancient hut-dwellings or fortifications now extant in Carnarvonshire can be assigned to the period when the use of metal was unknown. Yet, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the dwellings of the Age of metal, owing to the continuity of method in

human civilisation, give some indications as to the characteristics of their Neolithic prototypes. Nay, we may even venture to see in the mud houses that are found in the county, even at the present day, some indications of the materials which primitive man could employ, when occasion required. Building even with stones and clay requires considerable skill, so that the most ancient artificial shelters were doubtless made with the minimum of wall, by digging pits or holes in the ground, as in the subterranean dwellings of Caithness and the pit-dwellings of Wiltshire. As time went on, and greater skill was acquired, huts of simple form -circular, oval, or rectangular-would be built of earth, earth and stones, stones mortared with clay, or unmortared stone. The roof-of boughs, rushes, willows, osiers, and the like-would be supported by a pole rising from the middle of the hut. The Rev. S. BaringGould informs me that in some of the hut-dwellings on Dartmoor, traces have been discovered of the hole in the floor which formed the socket for such a pole. These dwellings and groups of dwellings were probably protected by dykes of earth, such as are still used in the county as substitutes for hedges, thickly overgrown with an impenetrable covering of briars, brambles, and above all gorse, which, when in bloom, is still one of the most characteristic features of the landscape in some parts of Carnarvonshire, notably the Lleyn peninsula. The land was probably grazed, and later on tilled, by groups of the inhabitants in common. The upland pastures were grazed in summer; while in winter, for greater shelter, the sheep and cattle were driven to the valleys and lowlands. It was this ancient practice that probably survived in the "Hafod" and " Hendref" system of farming of later days. Cooking was chiefly carried on in the open air, just as baking still is occasionally in some parts of the county, when the house has no oven. The fuel consisted largely of brambles, gorse, and dried cow-dung. Water was boiled by means of "cooking-stones," heated in the

fire and dropped into the water to be boiled. At the approach of danger from enemies, the inhabitants would gather their flocks and herds into their gorse-enclosed fortresses, which were situated in the most inaccessible places known to them: such as a lofty height, or a seacliff that was difficult of access. In addition to the game which they caught, and the produce of their farms, they probably ate, especially in times of scarcity, the various non-poisonous wild berries; and, when they lived within easy distance of the sea, shell-fish, sandeels, and edible seaweed.

Turning now to the environment of Early Man in death, it seems probable that some of the conditions. and distinctions of the living were here again reflected. The insignificant dead, if buried at all, were doubtless buried with little ceremony; but the illustrious dead appear to have been buried in the nearest counterparts to their living abodes. Where the latter was a cave, the burial appears to have been made in a cave also. Where no natural cave was available, artificial sepulchral grottoes were hollowed out, wherever the nature of the rock-such as soft sandstone or chalk-rendered this possible. If the rock was unsuitable, and large slabs of stone, as in Carnarvonshire, were available, these were grouped together to form chambers, the interstices between the stones being filled with clay and rubble, and the whole structure covered with earth. As in life the living dwelt together, the same chamber was used for the burial of several bodies, and it had an opening for the purpose of new burials, generally on the east side. The body was often buried in a crouchedup attitude. The classical essay on the manipulation of the stones of early Megalithic structures is that by Frederick III, King of Denmark, written in 1857, and reprinted in English in the Archæologia Cambrensis for 1862. In this admirable essay, stress is laid on the stimulus to the acquisition of skill in stone-working given to Early Man by his intensely alert psychological condition in reference to stone, this alertness arising