Dozens of women's skeletons found lying in Welsh beauty spot, as strange new discovery made
Dozens of women's skeletons found lying in Welsh beauty spot, as strange new discovery made
Scientific testing is being carried out on a ritually buried skeleton discovered near to a popular tourist attraction in Wales
Fonmon Castle
(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne )
A ritually buried skeleton and second prehistoric settlement have been found at a popular tourist site in Wales. Scientific testing is currently being undertaken on archaeological remains from Fonmon Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan. A previous dig had already uncovered an ancient cemetery which has been hailed as a major archaeological find shedding new light on life in Early Medieval Wales. There is evidence of ritual feasting, with around half of the 80 burials being recovered so far. Now the bones of a ritually buried animal has been discovered.
The new dig by Cardiff University researchers has revealed part of an Iron Age settlement, located just to the west of the castle. So far, only the ditch at the entrance to the settlement has been uncovered. A key find was the skeleton of a dog deliberately placed in the entrance ditch, likely put there as part of a ritual to protect the settlement.
The new trench was dug to investigate an area of the castle grounds where geophysical surveys indicated another possible archaeological site. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
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Cardiff University Msc archaeology student and project supervisor James Waite holding a fragment of the ancient dog skeleton that was found at Fonmon Castle.
(Image: Andy Seaman Cardiff University )
Dr Andy Seaman, Reader in early mediaeval archaeology at Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: 'The dog was at the entranceway into the enclosure. The skeleton was complete, and it had been placed very deliberately at the bottom of the ditch. This is something we see in other Iron Age sites in Britain, and we believe it relates to the role of dogs as symbolic guardians.
'The skeleton has been radiocarbon dated to 700 to 500 BC, the early Iron Age, which is a period from which we have comparatively few sites in Wales, so it's an important discovery.'
The cemetery, which has been found on the grounds of Fonmon Castle near Barry, contains burials dating to the sixth and seventh centuries AD
(Image: Dr Andy Seaman )
The team will also analyse all the other finds from the preliminary trench, including a small amount of pottery and many animal bones, which suggest waste deposits from the settlement. These will tell the team about the economy, farming and environment at the time the settlement was in use.
The dig at the original burial site last year, which dates to the 6th or 7th, revealed dozens of skeletons lying in unusual positions. Researchers found that nearly all of the people buried in the cemetery were women.
There were signs of some carrying out heavy work, but also clues to riches and luxury. Some of the bones showed that some of the people buried there suffered osteoarthritis and one skeleton was of a person with "very short stature".
The bones of one woman had apparently been hurled into a ditch, while all the other remains had been buried with care.
Human bones found at the site in the lab at Cardiff University
A total of 39 human skeletons have been found in graves carved out of the limestone bedrock at the site.
Dr Seaman admitted it was a mystery why only the skeletons of women have been unearthed in the cemetery. It is possible men are buried in another part of it, he said.
We've now established that the site has good research potential,' said Dr Seaman. 'It can tell us a lot about the early Iron Age, which is quite poorly understood in this region. Going forward, we will open further trenches to try to see if we can identify evidence for houses within the enclosure, and also to dig more of the enclosure ditch to recover more evidence relating to its use.'
He said that the find at the new site reveals a fascinating new chapter of Fonmon's history.
'It adds a lot to our kind of understanding of the history of the site, pushing it back beyond the Roman period into prehistory. It shows that the castle was not the first community to exploit that particular part of the landscape.'
Dr Andy Seaman, Reader in early mediaeval archaeology at Cardiff University School of History, Archaeology and Religion
(Image: Cardiff University )
Speaking about the cemetery finds bioarchaeologist Katie Faillace, also based at Cardiff University's School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: 'We're at a really exciting stage now, where we're starting to build up a fuller picture of the people buried at the cemetery. Our initial isotopic work suggests many of the people have local origins.
'We can see one of the individuals had degeneration in their joints, and therefore had a disease such as osteoarthritis and we have found an individual with extremely short stature.
'DNA tests have been taken so our lab work will reveal more details in the coming months.'
Fonmon Castle dates in parts to Norman times. It was bought in 2019 by Nigel Ford, who has opened it to the public as a visitor attraction and events venue.
Eager to discover more about the castle's past, he invited the Cardiff University team to investigate, with the first surveys taking place in 2021.
'We're very excited by how the archaeological investigations have panned out,' he said. 'When they began, nobody could have anticipated a find as important as the medieval cemetery - and now we have clear evidence of Iron Age occupation too.
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'This highlights just how long people have been drawn to settle in this area, making the castle seem a relatively recent addition. We're very much looking forward to welcoming the Cardiff University archaeological team back again in 2025 for the next stage of the dig, when we hope more will be revealed about both the medieval cemetery and the Iron Age enclosure.'
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