Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T22:37:27.381Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bryn Celli Ddu Passage Tomb, Anglesey: Alignment, Construction, Date, and Ritual

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2013

Steve Burrow
Steve Burrow
Affiliation:
Curator of Neolithic Archaeology, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff. CF10 3NP. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bryn Celli Ddu is one of only two developed passage tombs in Wales, and has occupied a pivotal place in narratives of this region since the publication of excavations in the 1920s by W.J. Hemp. The construction sequence at the site has been at the centre of debate on several occasions with previous models raising important issues about the sequence of major monument types (notably the henge and the passage tomb) and the inter-regional links of the tomb's builders. This paper presents a new interpretation of the site's construction history, drawing on several sources, including: the recent demonstration that the tomb is aligned on the midsummer sunrise; Hemp's unpublished archive; and the results of a radiocarbon dating programme. The result is a two phase model which shows the tomb to have been built between 3074 and 2956 calbc, and which sheds fresh light on the ritual practices of the community which built it.

Résumé

Bryn Celli Ddu est l'une de seulement deux tombes à couloir développées au Pays de Galles, et occupe une place pivot dans l'histoire de la région depuis la publication des fouilles de W.J. Hemp dans les années 1920. La séquence de construction sur le site s'est trouvée au centre d'un débat à plusieurs reprises, les modèles précédents soulevant d'importantes questions sur la séquence des principaux types de monuments (en particulier l'enceinte à talus et fossé et la tombe à couloir) et les liens inter-régionaux entre les bâtisseurs de tombes. Cette étude présente une nouvelle interprétation de l'histoire de la construction du site, puisant à plusieurs sources, y compris la récente démonstration que la tombe est alignée sur le lever du soleil au solstice d'été, les archives non publiées de Hemp, et les résultats d'un programme de datation au C14. Le résultat en est un modèle à deux phases qui démontre que la tombe a été construite entre 3074 et 2956 av. J.-C. en années calibrées et qui éclaire d'une nouvelle lumière les pratiques rituelles de la communauté qui l'a construite.

Résumen

Bryn Celli Ddu es una de las dos únicas tumbas de corredor desarrolladas en Gales, y ha ocupado un lugar fundamental en las narrativas de esta región desde la publicación de las excavaciones de W.J. Hemp en los años 20. La secuencia de la construcción del sito ha sido en varias ocasiones el centro del debate, y modelos previos han planteado importantes cuestiones sobre la secuencia de los principales tipos de monumento (notablemente el círculo tipo “henge” y la tumba de corredor) y de las conexiones inter-regionales de los constructores de la tumba. Este trabajo presenta una nueva interpretación de la historia de la construcción del sito, utilizando varias fuentes, que incluyen: la reciente demostración de que la tumba está alineada con la salida del sol en el solsticio de verano; el archivo inédito de Hemp; y los resultados de un programa de datación al carbono-14. El resultado es un modelo en dos fases que demuestra que la tumba fue construida entre 3074 y 2956 cal A.C., y que arroja nuevas luces sobre las prácticas rituales de la comunidad que la construyó.

Zusammenfassung

Bryn Celli Ddu ist eines von nur zwei bekannten entwickelten Ganggräbern in Wales. In der Geschichte dieser Region hat es seit der Veröffentlichung der Ausgrabungen der 1920er durch W. J. Hemp eine entscheidende Rolle eingenommen. Die Abfolge der Konstruktionsschritte an diesem Ort wurde mehrfach diskutiert, wobei frühere Modelle wichtige Fragen aufwarfen, die die Sequenz der Haupttypen der Bauwerke betreffen, insbesondere von Henges und Gangräbern, aber ebenso die interregionalen Beziehungen der Erbauer des Grabes. Dieser Beitrag präsentiert eine neue Interpretation der Baugeschichte des Fundplatzes unter Einbeziehung unterschiedlicher Quellen, darunter der jüngst erfolgte Nachweis, dass das Grab auf den Mittsommersonnenaufgang ausgerichtet ist, Hemps unveröffentlichtes Archiv, sowie die Ergebnisse eines C14 Datierungsprogramms. Das Resultat ist ein Zweiphasenmodell, nach dem das Grab zwischen 3074 und 2956 cal. bc erbaut wurde, und das neues Licht auf die rituellen Handlungen seiner Erbauer wirft.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 76 , 2010 , pp. 249 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anonymous. 1847. Cromlech at Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey. Archaeologia Cambrensis 2, 3–6Google Scholar
Barnwell, E.L. 1869. Cromlechs in north Wales. Archaeologia Cambrensis NS 3(15), 118–47Google Scholar
Baynes, E.N. 1912. The megalithic remains of Anglesey. Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 3–91Google Scholar
Bradley, R.J. 1998. Stone circles and passage graves – a contested relationship. In Gibson, A. & Simpson, D.D.A. (eds), Prehistoric Ritual and Religion, 2–13. Stroud: SuttonGoogle Scholar
Britnell, W.J. & Savory, H.N. 1984. Gwernvale and Penywyrlod: two Neolithic long cairns in the Black Mountains of Brecknock. Cardiff: Cambrian Archaeological AssociationGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal program. Radiocarbon 37, 425–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1998. Probability and dating. Radiocarbon 40, 461–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2001. Development of the radiocarbon program. Radiocarbon 43(2A), 355–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51, 337–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burl, A. 1999. Great Stone Circles. New Haven: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Burl, A. 2000. The Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. New Haven: Yale University PressGoogle Scholar
Burrow, S. 2006. The Tomb Builders in Wales 4000 – 3000 BC. Cardiff: Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum WalesGoogle Scholar
Burrow, S. 2010. The formative henge: speculations drawn from the circular traditions of Wales and adjacent counties. In Leary, J., Darvill, T.C. & Field, D. (eds), Round Mounds and Monumentality in the British Neolithic and Beyond, 182–96. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Cleal, R.M.J. & Walker, K.E. with Montague, R. 1995. Stonehenge in its Landscape: twentieth-century excavations. Salisbury: Wessex Archaeology & English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Eogan, G. 1983. Bryn Celli Ddu. Antiquity 57, 135–6Google Scholar
Eogan, G. 1986. Knowth and the Passage-tombs of Ireland. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Eogan, G. 1998. Knowth before Knowth. Antiquity 72, 162–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forde-Johnston, J.L. 1957. Megalithic art in the north-west of Britain: the Calderstones, Liverpool. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 23, 20–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, C. 1926. The Ysceifiog Circle and barrow, Flintshire. Archaeologia Cambrensis 81, 48–85Google Scholar
Grogan, E. 1991. Radiocarbon dates from Brugh na Bóinne. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 91C, 126–32Google Scholar
Hartnett, P.J. 1957. Excavation of a passage grave at Fourknocks, County Meath. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 58, 197–277Google Scholar
Hartnett, P.J. 1971. Excavation of a two tumuli at Fourknocks (sites II and III), County Meath. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 71, 35–90Google Scholar
Hemp, W.J. 1930. The chambered cairn of Bryn Celli Ddu. Archaeologia 80, 179–214CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hemp, W.J. 1935. The chambered cairn known as Bryn yr Hen Bobl, near Plas Newydd, Anglesey. Archaeologia 85, 252–92Google Scholar
Herity, M. 1974. Irish Passage Graves: Neolithic tomb builders in Ireland and Britain 2500 BC. Dublin: Irish University PressGoogle Scholar
Holgate, R. 1982. Neolithic Anglesey: a landscape study. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 30(1a–2), 153–64Google Scholar
Jenkins, R.T. (ed.). 2001. The Dictionary of Welsh Biography 1941–1970, London: Honourable Society of CymmrodorionGoogle Scholar
Kenney, J. 2005. Excavations at Parc Bryn Cegin, Llandygai, near Bangor, Gwynedd. Archaeology in Wales 45, 3–10Google Scholar
Kytmannow, T. 2008. Portal Tombs in the Landscape: the chronology, morphology and landscape setting of the portal tombs of Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 455CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leivers, M., Roberts, J. & Peterson, R. 2001. Bryn yr Hen Bobl, Anglesey: recent fieldwork and a reassessment of excavations in 1935. Archaeology in Wales 41, 3–9Google Scholar
Le Roux, C.-T. 1985. New excavations at Gavrinis. Antiquity 59, 183–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockyer, N. 1906. Stonehenge and Other British Monuments Astronomically Considered. London: MacmillanGoogle Scholar
Lynch, F. n.d. Excavation for Old Ground Surface at Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey. Bangor: University of Wales, Bangor (unpublished report for Cadw)Google Scholar
Lynch, F.M. 1967. Barclodiad y Gawres: comparative notes on the decorated stones. Archaeologia Cambrensis 116, 1–22Google Scholar
Lynch, F.M. 1973. The use of the passage in certain passage graves as a means of communication rather than access. In Daniel, G. & Kjærum, K.P. (eds), Megalithic Graves and Ritual, 147–62. Moesgard: Jutland Archaeological SocietyGoogle Scholar
Lynch, F.M. 1991. Prehistoric Anglesey: the archaeology of the island to the Roman conquest. Llangefni: Anglesey Antiquarian SocietyGoogle Scholar
Lynch, F. 1992. The spiral-decorated stone at Llanbedr, Meirionydd. In Sharples, N. & Sheridan, A. (eds), Vessels for the Ancestors, 159–67. Edinburgh: University PressGoogle Scholar
Lynch, F., Aldhouse-Green, S. & Davies, J.L. (eds). 2000. Prehistoric Wales, Stroud: SuttonGoogle Scholar
Lynch, F.M. & Musson, C. 2001. A prehistoric and early medieval complex at Llandegai, near Bangor, North Wales. Archaeologia Cambrensis 150, 17–142Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W. 1988. Maeshowe and the winter solstice: ceremonial aspects of the Orkney Grooved Ware culture. Antiquity 71, 338–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maylan, N. 1991. Thornwell Farm, Chepstow. Archaeology in Wales 31, 22Google Scholar
McKinley, J. 1989. Cremations: expectations, methodologies and realities. In Roberts, C.A., Lee, F. & Bintliff, J. (eds), Burial Archaeology: current research, methods and developments, 65–76. Oxford: British Archaeological Report 211Google Scholar
McKinley, J.I. 2006. Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey: human bone publication report. Salibury: Wessex Archaeology unpublished report for Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum WalesGoogle Scholar
Nash, G. 2006. The Architecture of Death: Neolithic chambered tombs in Wales. Almeley: LogastonGoogle Scholar
Nash, G., Brook, C., George, A., Hudson, D., McQueen, E., Parker, C., Stanford, A., Smith, A., Swann, J. & Waite, L. 2005. Notes on newly discovered rock art on and around Neolithic burial chambers in Wales. Archaeology in Wales 45, 12–16Google Scholar
Newall, R.S. 1931. The smaller cairn at Bryn Celli Ddu. Archaeologia Cambrensis 86, 259–62Google Scholar
O'Kelly, C. 1969. Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey. Archaeologia Cambrensis 118, 17–48Google Scholar
Ó Súilleabháin, M. 1988. Irish Passage Tomb Art in Context. Dublin: Unpublished PhD thesis, University College DublinGoogle Scholar
O'Sullivan, M. 2006. The Mound of the Hostages, Tara: a pivotal monument in a ceremonial landscape. Bray: Heritage CouncilGoogle Scholar
Parker Pearson, M., Chamberlain, A.T., Jay, M., Marshall, P., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Thomas, J., Tilley, C. & Welham, K. 2009. Who was buried at Stonehenge? Antiquity 83, 23–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patrick, J. 1974. Midwinter sunrise at Newgrange. Nature 249, 517–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patton, M., Rodwell, W. & Finch, O. 1999. La Hougie Bie, Jersey: a study of the Neolithic tomb, medieval chapel and Prince's Tower. Jersey: Sociétié JersiaiseGoogle Scholar
Pitts, M. 2006. Sensational new discoveries at Bryn Celli Ddu. British Archaeology 89, 6Google Scholar
Pollard, J. & Ruggles, C. 2001. Shifting perceptions: spatial order, cosmology, and patterns of deposition at Stonehenge. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 11(1), 69–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, T.G.E. & Daniel, G.E. 1956. Barclodiad y Gawres: the excavation of a megalithic chamber tomb in Anglesey, 1952–1953. Liverpool: University PressGoogle Scholar
Redknap, M. 1996. Glyn, Llanbedrgoch (SH515813). Archaeology in Wales 36, 59Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Bertrand, C.J.H., Blackwell, P.G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Cutler, K.B., Damon, P.E., Edwards, R.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Freidrich, M., Guilderson, T.P., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., Manning, S., Ramsey, C.B., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Southon, J.R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F.W., Plicht, J. van der & Weyhenmeyer, C.E. 2004. IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal KYR BP. Radiocarbon 46, 1029–58Google Scholar
Scott, W.L. 1933. The chambered tomb of Pant-y-Saer, Anglesey. Archaeologia Cambrensis 88, 185–228Google Scholar
Shee Twohig, E. 1981. The Megalithic Art of Western Europe. Oxford: Clarendon PressGoogle Scholar
Smith, C.A. & Lynch, F.M. 1987. Trefignath and Din Dryfol: the excavation of two megalithic tombs in Anglesey. Cardiff: Cambrian Archaeological AssociationGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J. 1986. A computer program for radiocarbon age calculation. Radiocarbon 28, 1022–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stout, A. 2008. Creating Prehistory: druids, ley hunters and archaeologists in pre-war Britain. Oxford: BlackwellCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stout, G. 2002. Newgrange and the Bend of the Boyne. Cork: University PressGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J. 2001. Neolithic enclosures: reflections on excavations in Wales and Scotland. In Darvill, T. & Thomas, J. (eds), Neolithic Enclosure in Atlantic Northwest Europe, 132–43. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Warrilow, W., Owen, G. & Britnell, W.J. 1986. Eight ringditches at Four Crosses, Llandysilio, Powys. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 52, 53–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wainwright, G.J. 1962. The excavation of an earthwork at Castell Bryn-Gwyn, Llanidan parish, Anglesey. Archaeologia Cambrensis 111, 25–58Google Scholar
White, S.I. & Smith, G. 1999. A funerary and ceremonial centre at Capel Eithin, Gaerwen, Anglesey. Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society (no vol. no.)Google Scholar
Whittle, A.W.R. & Wysocki, M. 1998. Parc le Breos Cwm transepted long cairn, Gower, West Glamorgan: date, contents, context. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 64, 139–82CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yates, M.J. & Longley, D. 2001. Anglesey: a guide to ancient monuments on the Isle of Anglesey. Cardiff: CadwGoogle Scholar