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2. HUT-CIRCLES ASSOCIATED WITH HILL-FORTRESSES. There are numerous hut-circles in the various hillfortresses of the district. Conway Town Mountain contains at least thirty-four within the ramparts, the greater number with a double line of walling. On Penmaenmawr Mountain they are very numerous and of especial interest, as there is evidence to show that they were of the bee-hive type, similar to those on the South Aran Islands, off the West Coast of Ireland.

In some cases, as on Conway Town Mountain, Allt Wen, and possibly on Penmaenmawr, a hut-circle was placed near the entrance, and might have served as a guard-room.

3. DETACHED HUT-CIRCLES.

These are to be found scattered all over the area under review, and a careful search would, in all probability, reveal many more. Descriptions of a few are subjoined.

To the E. of the Aber Waterfall,' on a level space on the mountain side, is a hut-circle 18 feet in diameter; 200 yards to the S. are traces of a larger circle, and at a distance of 400 yards from the waterfall, is a circle with a double wall.

In the Anafon Valley, about half-a-mile below the lake, just below the point where the valley opens out, and where the path descends rather sharply, are several hut-circles, one of which (Fig. 7) is about 12 feet internal diameter, and consists of a very distinct circle of stones, eight being about 3 feet 6 inches to 2 feet in height.

About 200 yards from Llangelynin Old Church, down the hill on the E. side of the road, are three good examples of hut-circles, each with a double ring and an entrance facing E.; their respective diameters are 22 yards, 24 yards and 27 yards.

1 Arch. Camb., 1865, p. 137, by J. T. Blight.

The hill slopes of Carreg Fawr, Llanfairfechan, facing Dinas, show many traces of enclosures, and in a field, about 200 yards S.E. of Ty'n rhedyn, and S. W. of Rhyd Deuryd, between the 700 feet and 800 feet contour lines, is a group of about 10 hut-circles, with indications of an encircling wall. They vary in diameter from 18 feet to 25 feet, and the hut-walls are about 6 feet thick.

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In concluding this account of the hut-circles and hut-circle villages of this district, a question arises as to their date. Some writers are of opinion that many of the huts are not pre-Roman, but it must be remembered that the advancement of civilisation in Wales was brought about by the influence of successive immigrations of more cultured peoples than by home initial development.

No one doubts that the hut-circles still existing

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belong to different periods, judging by the character of their construction and by the excavated "finds." Authorities fairly agree that the stone-built huts are the latest, and the methods of construction of the huts on Penmaenmawr Mountain and Tre'r Ceiri show a distinct advance upon the hut-circles found on the other upland districts of Carnarvonshire. An exceedingly interesting example of works of different dates on practically the same site may be studied on the property of Lord Boston at Penrhos Lligwy, Anglesey. Dr. Windle, F.R.S., says, "Hut-circles. . . . are the remains of habitations occupied, we can now say with certainty, in the Neolithic period," views that are confirmed by the researches of Mr. Church, Dr. Colley March, and Professor Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. Mr. G. A. Humphreys, F.R.I.B.A., is of opinion that "practically all the important camps about here have probably been used for centuries B.C. down to Romano-British times, and were altered and improved from time to time by the successive peoples who occupied them, according to their requirements and stage of culture.' The result is that we have on the same hill-tops very early hut-dwellings, etc., in close proximity to very late dwellings.

1 Prehistoric Remains, p. 256.

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PREHISTORIC FLINT FACTORY DISCOVERED AT ABERYSTWYTH

BY ROGER THOMAS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF WALES, ABERYSTWYTH

WHILE engaged last summer on a geological survey of the Aberystwyth district, I was examining the soil near the harbour in the company of Dr. O. T. Jones, Professor of Geology at the above College. The latter observed some flint flakes and a flint core embedded in the soil about 2 ft. below the surface, and suggested that they bore a considerable resemblance to those found on chipping floors of presumed Neolithic age in Pembrokeshire and elsewhere. Since then I have repeatedly visited and carefully searched the locality, and have discovered altogether several hundred objects, mainly of flint, which are roughly classified below.

The site (see Fig. 1; the site is marked with a cross) is on a fairly flat spur of rock immediately opposite the entrance to the harbour, and close along the east side of the River Ystwyth. In recent times the course of that river has been somewhat diverted near its mouth, so that it now enters the sea at the same place as the Rheidol (see plan, Fig. 2). To accomplish this the end of the spur had to be cut through. Subsequently a bridge has been built at this point across the Ystwyth, and a 10-ft. cutting made through the spur at the level of the bridge. Another and an older cutting runs parallel to, and about 30 yards to the east of, the river. A continuation of this towards the harbour would separate off most of the area on which chips of flint have been found from the steeper slope forming the western flank of the prominent fortified hill of Pen Dinas, which overlooks the Rheidol' and Ystwyth Valleys. As the

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1 The plan is orientated north and south. Scale, 6 in. 1 mile. 2 Scale, 25 in. 1 mile; the dotted area indicates the area on which flints, etc., have been found. The north end of the plan is on the left of the page.

shingle beaches which occur across the mouth of the Ystwyth Valley and on the site of the Promenade were practically the only source of flint stones in the district,

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Fig. 1.-Site of a Prehistoric Flint Factory, Aberystwyth

the position of the factory is readily accounted for. The section in which flints were first observed was exposed in making the foundations of the new isolation hospital for the town. The state of the

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