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Llandeilo Archaeology & History
Extracts from Llandeilo Fawr - Heritage Audit by Paul Sambrook and Jenny Hall for Cambria Archaeology (March 2004)
[Note: The references beginning PRN are to entries which can be found in the Site Gazetteer
Prehistory
There is little recorded archaeology within the boundaries of Llandeilo Fawr town relating to the prehistoric periods. The little evidence that is recorded indicates that human communities have made use of the land around the modern town since at least the time of the first farmers, during the Neolithic period (4000BC-2200BC). A polished stone axe (PRN862), made of rhyolite, of probable Neolithic date was found at Dinefwr Castle in 1876, and was later donated to the National Museum of Wales by Lord Dynevor. A second axe (PRN908) thought to be of Neolithic date and made of polished chert, was found in 1913 in a field below the town known as Cae Crug Mawr, at the edge of the Tywi floodplain.
There is some possible evidence of human activity around Llandeilo during the Bronze Age period (2200BC-700BC) in the form of the mound which gives rise to the name of the above mentioned Cae Crug Mawr, which is thought to be a Bronze Age round barrow or burial mound (PRN903). Archaeological evidence for the activities of Bronze Age people in Wales is dominated by evidence of their burial sites, in the form of hilltop cairns and barrows, where the cremated remains of the dead were interred, usually in cremation urns. There are many such burial sites recorded in this part of Carmarthenshire, especially on the higher ground either side of the Tywi valley and on the Carmarthenshire Vans. Valley floor barrows are less common and therefore Crug Mawr is of some importance. A possible Bronze Age hammerhead (PRN905), made of quartzite stone, was found in a pool below Dinefwr Castle in 1918 and is now kept at Carmarthen Museum.
The Iron Age (700BC-AD70) is, surprisingly perhaps, as yet not represented in the archaeological record for Llandeilo, although the view northwards from the town is dominated by the impressive Iron Age hillfort of Garn Goch, positive proof of the presence of a well-settled Iron Age population in the district. It has been suggested that the medieval castle of Dinefwr is itself located on the site of an Iron Age hillfort (PRN880), but there is currently no archaeological evidence for such a site. Recent archaeological fieldwork undertaken by Cambria within Dinefwr Park has however identified the site of an apparent hillfort. Archaeological investigations are still ongoing with relation to this site and final confirmation of its location and character is waited. The period is noted as the age of Celtic tribes and warrior bands that made warfare a way of life, for whom such hillforts were important defensive strongholds.
However, it is important to remember that the chieftains and warriors were supported by a farming population that would have exploited the natural resources of the area thoroughly, with the bulk of population probably living in scattered farmsteads.
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