Bronze Age Pot Discovered in Cardiff Wales

The Caerau and Ely Rediscovering (CAER) Heritage Project, a partnership between Cardiff University, Action in Caerau and Ely (ACE), local schools, residents and heritage partners, began excavations at Trelai Park, half a mile from Caerau Hillfort – a heritage site of national significance where Cardiff University archaeologists and community members have previously discovered Neolithic, Iron Age, Roman and medieval origins.

Experts believed the settlement, dubbed ‘Trelai Enclosure’ could provide the missing link between the late Iron Age and early Roman period, showing what happened to people once they had moved on from the Hillfort.

But in fact, the roundhouse, located near Cardiff West Community High School, actually predates it. A clay pot discovered at the site has given the team a firmer indication of the time period the building can be traced to.

Dr Oliver Davis, CAER Project co-director, based at Cardiff University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: “What we’ve found is completely unexpected and even more exciting.

This enclosure could be providing us with the earliest clues on the origins of Cardiff. The pot that’s been found is beautifully decorated and well preserved. It is extremely rare to find pottery of this quality.

It’s also unusual to find a Bronze Age settlement in Wales  – there are only one or two other Bronze Age sites in this country.

“The people who lived here could have been members of a family whose descendants went on to build Caerau Hillfort.”

Nearly 300 volunteers have participated in the dig so far, with around 500 visitors coming to the site since its start.

Fellow co-director Dr David Wyatt added: “We came looking for the missing link between the late Iron Age and early Roman period. What we found is something much more remarkable and much older.

“We believe the roundhouse could now have been constructed in the mid to late Bronze Age, going back to between 1500 and 1100 BC. The enclosure definitely predates the hillfort. People were living here before the hillfort was built.

“The whole community – volunteers, school children and Cardiff University students, should be proud of what they’ve achieved here. It’s an incredible development and sheds light on the earliest inhabitants of Cardiff.”

Tom Hicks, an archaeologist who came through Cardiff University’s Exploring the Past pathway and volunteer Charlie Adams both found and recovered the pot during the dig.

Tom said: “This is a very well-preserved example of Bronze Age pottery and a significant find for the archaeological record in the region. It’s a great opportunity for us to learn more about the lives of the people living on the site around 3,000 years ago.

“The beautiful decoration on the pot shows that these people wanted to display their creativity to others and further scientific analysis may be able to tell what the pot was used for before it ended up in the enclosure ditch and how or where the pot was made.”

Martin Hulland, Headteacher at Cardiff West Community High School said: “We are delighted to be involved in this exciting archaeological project. Our students have loved learning about the history that’s just a stone’s throw away from their school.”

Hundreds Of Pure Gold Roman Coins Found in Italy

About 300 gold coins, dating back around 1,500 years to a time when part of the Roman Empire was collapsing, have been discovered during construction at an abandoned cinema in Como, in northern Italy, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities said in a series of statements.

All of the coins were found inside the remains of an amphora, a type of storage jar that the Romans often used to transport liquids such as wine and olive oil.

After the cinema construction crew discovered the hoard, a team of archaeologists from the ministry excavated the coins and brought them to a lab in Milan, where they are in the process of being examined and conserved said the ministry in one of the Italian language statements.  

Coin hoards have been found at many sites throughout the ancient Mediterranean, including a 1,500-year-old hoard found at the Greek city of Corinth.

However, hoards containing an abundance of gold coins are rare, and the ministry called the new find an “extraordinary discovery” in one of the statements.

The discovery leaves archaeologists with several mysteries. For example, when, exactly, was the hoard deposited, and who deposited it? Why was it abandoned, and why did no one come back for it?

An empire’s collapse

Historical records indicate that part of the Roman Empire was collapsing around 1,500 years ago, with many wars being fought in Italy.

The Roman Empire had been divided in two by the fifth century A.D. The Eastern Roman Empire, which was based in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), was thriving, while the Western Roman Empire (which included Italy) was collapsing.

Rome was sacked in A.D. 410 by a group called the Goths, and in A.D. 455 by a group called the Vandals. In A.D. 476, the Western Roman Empire officially came to an end when the last emperor, a man named Romulus Augustulus, abdicated.

The Eastern Roman Empire (sometimes called the Byzantine Empire by modern-day historians) regained much of Italy during a series of military campaigns during the rule of Justinian I (who reigned from A.D. 527 to 565).

But his successors couldn’t hold on to it, and a group called the Lombards gradually took over Italy in the time after Justinian’s death, in 565. Additionally, the ancient world was ravaged by the plague, which started in A.D. 541 and killed millions of people.

Whether the deposit of the hoard has anything to do with the chaos that was engulfing the Roman Empire around 1,500 years ago is unclear, but current research may eventually provide answers.