From left to right. The Mold Cape and strings of amber beads superimposed on a digital sketch, which could be man or woman (Source: British Museum Partnership Programme); Photograph of the Wrexham County Borough Museum hologram of the reconstructed head of Brymbo Man (my photo); The recreated grave and capstone with original skeleton and grave goods of Brymbo Man in the Wrexham County Borough Museum (my photo).
Bryn y Ffynon (Brymbo) and Bryn yr Ellyllon (Mold) indicated by yellow markers, shown in relation to Chester and Wrexham. courtesy of Google Earth. Click to enlarge.
This is part 1 of a four-part overview of two Early Bronze Age graves and how they contribute to an understanding of the archaeology of the period in northeast Wales and the borders. All four parts have been written, and will be released over the next couple of weeks.
The series has been divided up as follows:
Part 1 (this post) – Introduction to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in northeast Wales:
- Introduction
- Some Background to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
- A rich heritage in northeast Wales
- Discovering the graves
- Sources (bibliography) for all four parts
Part 2 – What do we know about Bryn y Ffynnon, the grave of ‘Brymbo Man’?
Part 3 – What do we know about Bryn yr Ellyllon, where the Mold cape was found?
Part 4 – Bringing the threads together, plus visiting details
Part 1: Introduction
The series is based on two burial finds in northeast Wales, Bryn yr Ellyllon, near Mold and Bryn y Ffynnon at Brymbo, Wrexham. These two sites have been chosen 1) because excavated sites are comparatively unusual in northeast Wales, 2) the contents of both sites can be visited in museums, and 3) because of the differences between them, and the opportunity for assessing different types of knowledge about the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in northeast Wales. In spite of the differences between them, both represent variants of the broader burial tradition, and therefore have the potential to add their own unique voices to the discussion of how this period manifests itself in the region.
The Mold Cape (British Museum 188,0514.1) from Bryn yr Ellyllon near Mold. Source: British Museum
Bryn yr Ellyllon (which translates as Hill of Goblins or Fairies) was discovered by labourers in 1833 a few miles to the east of Mold. It was a round cairn (a mound of stones) that contained a badly decayed skeleton together accompanied by a number of very fine artefacts, one of which is the magnificent gold Mold Cape made of paper-thin gold and embossed with a decorative theme that emulates multiple strings of beads. The other objects included around 300 amber beads (the exact number found remains unknown, and only one survives), other pieces of gold that appear to have belonged to a second cape, and some poorly preserved items of bronze. These are now in the British Museum in London and are discussed further below and in part 3. Even though the objects were pulled from the site as pieces of treasure, the location of the site is known, and the objects form a relatively coherent assemblage. These are valuable details when understanding how objects were chosen to accompany the dead, and where burial sites were located in the landscape.
The partial remains of Brymbo Man and his two grave goods from the Bryn y Ffynnon cist. Source: Peoples Collection Wales
In 1958 a stone-line cist called Bryn y Ffynnon, was found 10 miles to the northwest of Wrexham at Brymbo, containing the well-preserved remains of a partial skeleton, a flint tool and a ceramic vessel known as a Beaker. The name means Hill of the Well or Spring (with many thanks to Reginald Iain de Crawford-Griffin for the translation). It seems to have been named for a small farm of the same name on Brymbo Hill. The site was excavated in 1958, and the results published in an excavation report in 1959. The man to whom the skeleton belonged, now nick-named Brymbo Man, was around 35 years old when he died some 3600 years ago. The burial, including the skeletal remains, is now on display in the Wrexham County Borough Museum, together with a reconstruction of the skeleton’s face. The site is discussed further below, and in detail in part 2.
Each burial offers contrasting insights into the Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age, and they are worth looking at both individually and together to highlight how different sites may produced different types of knowledge. Every individual site has something to say for itself, and as more sites are investigated, each feeds in turn into our knowledge about the period in which they were constructed, and during which they formed an integral part of the human landscape. It is the understanding of the period as a whole, rather than individual objects, that is important to archaeologists, who work to recreate past societies from the sites and objects that survive.
Some Background to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age
Chronology of ceramics in Britain, Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Source: Parker-Pearson et al 2016
The Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age are usually discussed together. The period lasts from around 2900-1600 BC. The division from the earlier Neolithic lies in transformations visible in the material record, which may in turn reflect revisions of ideology, social organization and/or economic activity. These changes coincide with a period of climatic change.
Riverine connections during British prehistory, showing how the river network links from Wessex, the Thames valley and the Humber estuary. Source: Bradley 2019, p.20
The climate, cooler than in the earlier Neolithic, was still favourable for agriculture, and in particular may have supported agricultural development in hilly areas in the summer months. Astrid Caseldine’s analysis of environmental indicators suggests that this was a period of deforestation in many parts of upland north Wales, probably indicative of agricultural expansion into these upland areas. This is supported both by the notable increase in cereal pollen in these environments, and by the flowering of Late Neolithic – Early Bronze Age monuments across the upland landscape. This expansion could not have lasted indefinitely; the soils were simply not of sufficiently robust quality to sustain long-term agricultural expansion. Valleys were also popular locations for these sites, indicating that communities were adept at making the best of various different environments. The valley of the river Alyn, along which several sites are located including Bryn yr Ellyllon and the Llong, is one example.
Foremost amongst the transformations in material culture, suggesting social as well as economic changes, is a different form of burial practise, suggesting changes in the way that communities defined themselves and related to both others and the landscape. Although there were a number of tomb styles prevalent in the earlier Neolithic, most burial sites contained the remains of multiple individuals, but at the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze age, smaller round barrows and cairns were favoured, usually containing a single burial in a small subterranean chamber at its centre, sometimes with a new form of pottery known as a Beaker. Sometimes additional burials added into the mound itself at a later date. At the same time, settlements became less substantial, more ephemeral, and much less easy to find archaeologically, the sites often consisting of little more than household debris with few, if any, signs of the circular structures that once contained them.
A suggested reconstruction of the 100s of beads found in the cairn at Llong, near Mold. Source: Curious Clwyd
Pottery styles also changed at this time, with the introduction of the new Beaker form from Europe and the replacement of earlier Neolithic styles with new home-grown Grooved Ware, Food Vessels and Collared Urns. As the name Bronze Age suggests, this was also the period during which metal-working began, first copper and gold, and later bronze itself, an alloy of copper and tin. North Wales was well placed as a base for the exploitation of mineral sources, an industry that gained momentum during the Early Bronze Age before becoming an important centre for copper and other resources in the Middle Bronze Age. The earliest copper tools in Wales were flat axes that had been cast in an open mould, a basic technology that improved over time. Decorative items, such as items of jewellery also appear much more frequently. The amber beads in Bryn yr Ellyllon and the jet and shale beads in the necklace found in a cairn at Llong, near Mold, both in the valley of the river Alyn, are both examples from northeast Wales.
Although these are the top-level identifiers of the new Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age material culture, there is considerable regional variation, and even within a region no two graves are identical. Although inhumations (burials) are typical of barrow graves, cremation steadily gained momentum, eventually replacing inhumation as the preferred method for disposing of the dead.
A rich Early Bronze Age heritage in northeast Wales
Northeast Wales was a recipient of these new ideas, perhaps deriving them from earlier versions in south Wales, or perhaps more plausibly from similar manifestations in northern England with which the northern Welsh material appears to have certain affinities. The Bryn y Ffynnon Beaker, for example, bears a close resemblance to examples in northeast England, and stone maceheads from northeast Wales are comparable with those from the north of England, including a remarkable example from the Maesmor Estate at Llangwm near Corwen in the Ceirw river valley, not far from the Dee (shown left). Good quality flint pieces for more mundane stone tools are unavailable in north Wales, and this appears to have been imported from elsewhere. Yorkshire jet appears in northeast Wales during the Late Neolithic, as does amber. The nearest source of amber was the Baltic, but it also washed up on beaches along the Yorkshire coast. Amber was found in Bryn yr Ellyllon with the golden cape; jet (and black stone resembling jet) appears in the necklace, found scattered in a the stones of cairn at Llong, 1.5 miles (2.4km) southeast of Mold, overlying the burial of a crouched female skeleton. Although sea routes had dominated during the earlier Neolithic, the indications are that land and river routes now assumed a new importance, transforming networks of communication.
Distribution of round barrows and cairns in Wales. Source: Burrow 2011, p.106
However they arrived, the Early Neolithic and Early Bronze Age burial practices soon colonized northeast Wales, mainly round barrows (mounds of earth or turf) and cairns (mounds of stone) the majority of which, but by no means all, are thought to have been burial sites. Here there were none of the earlier Neolithic monumental burials such as the so-called portal dolmens found in northwest Wales and on Anglesey. There are 100s of mounds all over Wales, north and south, and there are particular concentrations in the northeast of Wales, and along the Welsh borders. See the map right. There are also a few other types of ceremonial monuments from the period, including stone circles and so-called henges. Sadly, as explained above, there is a severe dearth of settlement sites. Nearly all of the archaeological data available about the period in northeast Wales is derived from these round mounds, built of earth, turf, or stones. Most have not been excavated, and many have become very overgrown over the millennia, making it difficult to differentiate between them. Where they have been investigated, a number of different types have been identified, based on features like kerb stones, berms and ditches. Some round barrows and cairns are completely empty of burials, but may perform a similar function in terms of looking like a burial site and establishing a presence in the landscape.
Source: Prehistoric Funerary and Ritual Monuments in Flintshire and Wrexham, by Frances Lynch 2003
Of the round barrows found in northeast Wales, some have been recorded but are no longer visible. Others are visible, either as monuments or as crop marks in aerial photographs, but have not been examined. Some were excavated before sound archaeological techniques were developed, and just a few have been subject to modern archaeological investigation. In all, it’s a very mixed bag of data, but it all points to a very busy Welsh heritage during the Early Bronze Age period.
When Frances Lynch discussed the survey of Bronze Age monuments in Flintshire and Wrexham in 2003, she included a table that listed 284 monuments, capturing particular concentrations of Early Bronze Age burial activity on Ruabon Mountain and in the Alyn Valley. What is interesting about her list is the sheer number of round barrows when compared to any other type of contemporary monument. A single stone circle and a possible henge (ceremonial monuments) are recorded. Lynch makes the point that sites located side by side may or may not be directly related to one another, but even so, a landscape stuffed full or more or less contemporary monuments is a notable phenomenon.
1991 map showing the distribution of scheduled Bronze Age barrows and major finds spots in Clwyd. Scheduled monuments are those that are under state protection, but there are many more that are not scheduled, so this shows only those sites deemed to be most important. Source: Manley et al 1991, p.66
To understand the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, other types of site would normally be taken into consideration, a mix of domestic, funerary and ritual sites. These include other ceremonial sites, industrial sites like kilns, quarries and mines, and settlements. A combination of sites helps to create a sense of what the lived area was like. The profusion of round mounds argues that northeast Wales was clearly well populated, but settlement and industrial sites remain very rare, although the copper mine at the Great Orme stands out as a notable and welcome exception. In spite of these gaps, prehistorian Frances Lynch, who specializes in Welsh archaeology, suggests that these prolific barrow builders were far from insular, and that they were part of larger networks of communication
“Although the social character of Wales was perhaps more conservative than that of many parts of Britain, the country was not isolated. The presence of exotic beads made of amber, faience and jet demonstrates that even quite remote communities could obtain luxuries from a distance and that fashions in clothes, as far as we can reconstruct them, changed in step with those elsewhere.” (Lynch 2000 p.138)
I will be talking more about grave distribution and how these two graves fit into the general picture in part 4.
Discovering the graves
The two sites under discussion were found 125 years apart. That 125 years accounts for how differently each site was treated by its finders. Both sites were discovered by workmen. Bryn yr Ellyllon, which contained the Mold Cape, was found in 1833 and Bryn y Ffynnon (Brymbo) was found in 1958. The grave at Bryn yr Ellyllon on the eastern outskirts of Mold, was discovered on the banks of the River Alyn, by accident by workmen in 1833, using stones from the cairn (stone mound) that covered the cist and its contents to fill in a disused gravel pit at the side of a road. Similarly, Bryn y Ffynnon, was found by workmen building a new housing estate. They were laying pipes, for which they were digging a new trench in Cheshire View in the village of Brymbo.
Bryn yr Ellyllon (containing the Mold Cape and accompanying grave goods)
Imaginative reconstruction of the discovery of the Mold Cape at Bryn yr Ellyllon by Tony Daly. It is far more likely that the skeleton was lying on its side, and we know that the cape was in pieces. Still, it is a useful way of visualizing how the site was uncovered. Source: British Museum Partnership Programme
An early 19th century discovery is almost inevitably bad news for a site in terms of excavation techniques, the proper recording of archaeological finds and the finding and preservation of delicate organic remains, such as, for example, very small pieces of human skeletal material, animal bones, plant remains, foodstuffs and any fabrics or bits of basketry. Even so, if the Bryn yr Ellyllon grave had been subjected to any form of contemporary archaeological investigation it would have fared better than it did.
When the labourers at the Bryn yr Ellyllon grave found the treasures that accompanied a decayed skeleton, they simply disposed of the bones and divided the spoils between themselves and the landowner John Longford. No records were made of the skeleton, and any contents that could be expected within the cairn itself, such as any secondary burials or artefacts within its structure, were lost. It is possible that other more pedestrian objects like stone tools may have been in the grave but, like the skeleton, were disposed of at the time. Had it not been for the Reverend Charles Butler Clough, the vicar of Mold, the find might never have come to academic light, and its discovery by a team of labourers would have been the kiss of death. Fortunately, the Reverend Clough heard of the find and took great interest in it, writing a letter to John Gage, in which he described the find, referring to the cape as a corselet:
I regret to say, that the Corselet suffered considerable mutilation. Mr. Langford, upon its discovery, having no idea of its value, threw it into a hedge, and told the workmen to bring it with them when they returned home to dinner. In the mean time several persons broke small pieces off it, and after I saw it, one piece of gold, apparently a shoulder strap, which was entire (or piece passing over the shoulder from the front to the back of the arm) was taken away ; two small pieces, of what I believe to have been (from its similarity to what I had seen) the other shoulder strap, with several small pieces of copper upon which the gold was fixed, are still in Mr. Langford’s possession; several rings and breast pins have been made out of the pieces carried away.
Illustration of the Mold Cape and fragments of a different cape from the same grave, all found in 1833. Source: Gage 1835
Hair-raising stuff. It was common for the clergy to write up this sort of discovery, as they were frequently the most scholarly and informed people around, and often had a profound interest in history. It is because of the Reverend Clough that anything at all is known about the grave beyond the surviving grave goods. His report was published in the journal Archaeologia in 1836, three years after the discovery, and the British Museum picked up on it and went to Mold to see if they could rescue the finds. It took over a century for enough of the pieces of the cape to be assembled for a reconstruction to be made (in the 1960s). Some fragments are still missing presumably those that Clough said had been recycled into rings and pins.
A geophysical survey was carried out in 2013, hoping to find either the site itself or anything associated with it, but its findings were limited to the discovery of the possible original site of the cairn, estimated at 25m in diameter.
The grave contents are now in the British Museum in London and the cape itself was featured in Neil MacGregor’s radio series (and the book that followed) “A History of the World in 100 Objects,” based on objects in the British Museum. In 2013 it was loaned to Wrexham County Borough Museum where it was put on display for five weeks, together with Llong shale and jet necklace, discovered in another burial nearby. It is is decorated with impressed designs, and absolutely remarkable for the skill required to work something so thin.
Bryn y Ffynnon (the grave of “Brymbo Man”)
The 1950s Brymbo housing estate, during the construction of which the Bryn y Ffynnon grave was found. Its rural surroundings are clearly visible. Source: Archwilio
Bryn y Ffynnon was found in 1958, and was very soon the subject of professional excavation. The workmen laying pipes for a new housing estate on the outskirts of Brymbo had stumbled across the corner of a vast slab of stone when they dug down to create a trench, about 30 cm (1ft) below the modern surface. When they investigated further, they found that it was the roughly hewn capstone (lid) of a cist (stone-lined rectangular grave)., which contained a burial and two artefacts: a pot and a flint tool. They removed the long bones and the beaker, for reasons unknown, but left the rest undisturbed.
Even in 1958, archaeology had not come of age in Britain. Radiocarbon dating had been invented but was still giving inaccurate dates, and was not calibrated (corrected) until 1967, after which many further modifications were made. Field techniques had not yet been fully refined, although they were improving all the time. Nor was there the same awareness that there is today of the value of leaving discoveries like this in situ, like a crime scene, so that they objects can be understood in relation to one another as they were deposited, in keeping with the intentions of those who interred the deceased and the grave goods.
The importance of relationships between objects, such as placement of finds near the head, hands or feet, help archaeologists to understand the lost language of ritual practises, just as the positioning of the skeleton itself, including its orientation (e.g. north-south) and the direction in which it was facing (e.g. east or west) help to understand how widespread these traditions and ideas actually were.
It is particularly nice, therefore, that in spite of the fact that the burial was found in the middle of a construction site, the details were passed over to the Grosvenor Museum in Chester, who in turn passed the news over to the National Museum of Wales to enable them to send a team and excavate the site as a rescue dig. The aim of rescue archaeology is to recover as much data and material as possible at a site in the allotted time before the halted construction or other activity must resume. Many rescue digs were carried out in the countryside during the 1950s due to the expansion of housing on formerly rural land. Without a cairn or barrow to signal its presence, the cist was only found whilst work was already underway, and work had to stop to allow the site to be excavated.
Plan and elevation by H.N. Savory published in 1959, showing the grave, together with its contents, as it was found in 1958. Source: Transactions of Denbighshire Historical Society
When they arrived on site, the National Museum of Wales archaeologist H.N. Savory and his team were able to replace the bones in their original position and went on to record the entire grave in situ before removing the grave, slabs and all, to enable the pipe-laying to proceed.
The following year Savory published a short but comprehensive excavation report with illustrations in 1959 in the Transactions of Denbighshire Historical Society, not yet digitized but available today in the public library in Wrexham. The plan and elevation of the grave is taken from that publication.
The grave and its contents were initially sent to Cardiff, where they were put on display in the National Museum of Wales, but are now in the Wrexham County Borough Museum. The grave is excellently displayed. The skeleton has been nick-named Brymbo Man. A reconstruction of the head, based on the remains of the skull, gives Brymbo Man a possible face, also on display in the museum.
In Part 2, both Savory’s excavation, together with the later post-excavation work that took place, will be discussed.
Final Comments on Part 1
Northeast Wales is home to 100s of round barrows. There are even two in Wrexham itself, miracle survivors of urban development. Not enough sites have been excavated to be able to talk in terms of a typical site, but both both sites stand out for the quality of their artefacts. Although the Beaker in Bryn yr Ffynon is not a rare piece, it is certainly unusual in this area, at least in the context of our current knowledge, and the Mold cape is acknowledged as a national treasure.
Photograph on display in the Wrexham County Borough Museum of Bryn y Ffynnon being excavated during the construction of a new housing estate.
Neither site was found under ideal circumstances, but Bryn y Ffynnon fared much better than Bryn yr Ellyllon, due almost entirely to the 125 years between the two discovery dates, and the much greater awareness of the value of archaeological sites, and their protection by law. In a field where funding is always an uphill battle, it is often due to accidental findings during construction work that result in excavations. Ironically, given that it signals the destruction of a site, rescue archaeology is enormously helpful in filling out the picture of archaeological periods, but it is relatively rare that such rescue work is required in rural areas. It was only because of the expansion of Brymbo into the surrounding countryside that Bryn y Ffynnon was discovered and rescued. What this means, in practical terms, is that the recovery of the archaeology of northeast Wales will inevitably remain piecemeal, as funding for excavation (and post-excavation analysis) is secured on a case by case basis, or as other rescue opportunities arise.
Each burial and its accompanying objects will be discussed in much greater depth in the next two posts, Bryn yr Ffynon (Brymbo) posted in part 2 and Bryn yr Ellyllon (Mold), posted in part 3. In part 4 all the strands are brought together to talk about how the two sites contribute to what is known of the archaeology of northeast Wales and the borders.
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Taylor, J.A. 1980. Environmental changes in Wales during the Holocene period in Taylor, J.A. (ed.) Culture and Environment in Prehistoric Wales. British Archaeological Reports British Series 76
Thomas, J. 1991. Reading the Body. Beaker Funerary Practice in Britain. In (eds.) Garwood, Jennings, D., Skeates, R and Toms, J. Sacred and Profane: Proceedings of a Conference on Archaeology, Ritual and Religion, Oxford, 1989. Oxbow Books
Thomas, J. 2007, Three Bronze Age Round Barrows at Cossington: A History of Use and Re-Use. Transactions of Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society 81 (2007), p.35-63
https://www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/2007/2007%20(81)%2035-63%20Thomas.pdf
Timberlake, S. and Marshall, P. 2014. The beginnings of metal production in Britain: a new light on the exploitation of ores and the dates of Bronze Age mines. Historical Metallurgy 47(1), p.75-92
https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/download/112/109/109
Young, T. 2013. GeoArch Report 2013/20, Geophysical survey of the supposed findspot of the ‘Gold Cape’, Bryn-yr-ellyllon, Mold, Flintshire (pt 2), 29th September 2013
https://museum.wales/media/30592/2013-20-Geophysical-survey-at-Mold-pt2.pdf
Waddinton, C. 2004. The Joy of Flint. Museum of Antiquities, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
https://www.archaeologicalresearchservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/JoyofFlint_1.pdf
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Websites:
Advanced Amber Kretaceous Zoologia (AAKZ)
British Amber
http://www.aakz.com/British-and-Irish-amber.html
ARCHAEO-death by Howard Williams
Questions for Brymbo Man
https://howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/questions-for-brymbo-man/
Archwilio
CPAT Regional Historic Environment Record Mold: Bryn-yr-ellyllon, Geophysical survey, 2013
https://archwilio.org.uk/her/chi3/report/page.php?watprn=CPAT166880&dbname=cpat&tbname=event&sessid=CHI39bx3hf5&queryid=Q883547001681323677
BBC News
Great Orme: Rare Bronze Age axe mould declared treasure, June 1st 2022
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61663012
British Museum
Cape
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1836-0902-1
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust
Mold Gold!
CPAT Newsletter, Autumn 2007, p.6-8
https://cpat.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/CPAT-Autumn-2007-1.pdf
Current Archaeology
December 1st 2016
The Cist on Whitehorse Hill
https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/cist-whitehorse-hill.htm
October 1st 2018
Spinning the tale of prehistoric textiles
https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/news/spinning-the-tale-of-prehistoric-textiles.htm
Dartmoor National Park
Whitehorse Hill
https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/wildlife-and-heritage/heritage/bronze-age/whitehorse-hill
The Fire on the Hill
Index of Brymbo Placenames
https://thefireonthehill.wordpress.com/index-of-places/
Getty Museum
The Properties of Amber
https://www.getty.edu/publications/ambers/intro/6/
The Independent
Discovery of vast treasure trove of fine textiles shows importance of fashion to Bronze Age Britons by David Keys, 14th July 2016
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/vast-treasure-trove-of-fine-textiles-shows-importance-of-fashion-to-bronze-age-britons-a7135786.html
Mellor Archaeological Trust
Necklace of Amber Beads
https://www.mellorarchaeology-2000-2010.org.uk/archaeology/finds/amberbeads.htm
PBS Time Team America
Isotope Analysis
http://timeteam.lunchbox.pbs.org/time-team/experience-archaeology/isotope-analysis/
Wrexham County Borough Museums and Archives
Brymbo Man Revealed
https://www.wrexhamheritage.wales/brymbo-man/