Cylchgronau Cymru

THE LATE BRONZE AGE IN WALES SOME NEW DISCOVERIES AND NEW INTERPRETATIONS* By H. N. SAVORY INTRODUCTION SINCE the most recent general survey of the Late Bronze Age in Wales was prepared, by Mr. (now Professor) W. F. Grimes, for the centenary volume of this Association,1 understanding of the subject has been notably increased, both directly by new discoveries in Wales and indirectly by new studies of various aspects of the period in the British Isles as a whole. It is the object of this paper to describe a number of the new or hitherto unpublished finds of Late Bronze Age gold ornaments, bronze implements, and pottery which are now preserved in the National Museum of Wales, and to assess their significance in the light of the very considerable changes in The following abbreviated references are used A-Archaeologia; ABI—J. Evans, Ancient Bronze Implements, 1881; AC- Archaeologia Cambrensis; ACR-Fox, Archaeology of the Cambridge Region, 1923; AFAS-Comptes Rendus, Association Française pour I'Avancement des Sciences; AJ-Archaeological Journal; ANB—Kersten, Zür älteren nordischen Bronzezeit, 1936; ANL-Archaeological News Letter; Ant. Journ.—Antiquaries Journal; BBCS-Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies; BCF-Sandars, Bronze Age Cultures in France, 1957; BFC-Aberg, Bronzezeitliche und Früheisenzeitliche Chronologie, 1930-35; BRGK-Bericht der Rbmisch-Germanischen Kommission; BSPF- Bulletin de la Société Prehistorique Francaise DB-Broholm, Danmarks Bronzealder, 1943-49; DGF-Proudfoot, The Downpatrick Gold Find, 1955; DOS— Broholm. Danske Oldsager: II, Bronzealderen, 1952-53 DOT—Brøndsted, Danmarks Old tid: II, Bronzealderen, 1939; 1914-31—Kendrick and Hawkes, Archaeology in England and Wales, 1914-31; IA-Inventaria Archaeologica, 1953-8; MC— Montgomeryshire Collections; PCBI-Childe, Prehistoric Communities of the British Isles, 1940; PI-Raftery, Prehistoric Ireland, 1951; PPS-Proceedings of the Pre- historic Society PRD—Davies, Prehistoric and Roman Denbighshire, 1929; PRF— Davies, Prehistoric and Roman Flintshire, 1949; PRIA—Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy; PSAL—Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London; PSAS-Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland; PRW—Wheeler, Prehistoric and Roman Wales, 1925; PW-Grimes, The Prehistory of Wales, 1951; RA—Revue Archaeologique; RCAM—Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales, Inventory; TSAS-Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society; UJA—Ulster Journal of Archaeology. 1 A Hundred Years of Welsh Archaeology, 1949, pp. 65 ff.