Welsh Journals

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spot to be used two and a half millennia later as a Christian burial place. Several Encrusted Urns have been found in Western Britain since 1926, but not one in Cardiganshire. Nevertheless, they have all been found in places that fall into line with the indications given by Sir Cyril (and subsequently published in the Antiquaries Journal) in his address to the Society in Penllwyn Chapel in 1927. Here, then, is scientific archaeology in action in the county and many other examples of a similar approach to antiquities of a different kind may be instanced, more especially the work of Mr. Ieuan T. Hughes, M.A., and Professor C. Daryll Forde, Ph.D., on Iron Age Hill Forts. The progress of archaeological work has proceeded further in recent years under the general aegis of the Society and more particularly by the formation in 1956 of the Aberystwyth Archaeological Society which, in close association with specialist organizations like the National Museum of Wales and the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments, is conduct- ing scientific excavations in the County. The distinguishing feature of this work is the possibility of utilizing the vast array of technical facilities now available in analysing the results of any excavation. The geologist is at hand, not only to help with the stratigraphy if required, but more particularly to indicate the precise nature of the rock material from which any stone implement found might have been derived. The metallurgical chemist can offer a similar service regarding metal implements. The botanist and the zoologist are called in to report on the minute fragments of wood and bone that might be found, even if the wood has been reduced to charcoal by fire. The botanist can help again with the identification of the pollen grains left indestructible in the soil and thereby help to reconstruct the detail of the natural vegetation conditions associated with a find or a special excavation. The pedologist is called in to report on the soils and so the process of hyper-specialization proceeds. This has become such an important part of modern archaeology that the Council for British Archaeology has thought it fit to publish a special series of 'Notes for the guidance of Archaeologists with regard to expert evidence'. The Aberystwyth Archaeological Society have already had great success in the field, especially with their excavation of the Penrhyncoch Barrow and the discovery there of a Beaker Burial and a Bronze Age cremation. The results of this work have been fully reported by Mr. Houlder (the leader of the excavation) in the pages of the Antiquarian Society's re-named journal CEREDIGION in 1956 and 1957. It is relevant to the argument set out in this paper to select three quotations from these reports to illustrate the three matters stressed already as the hallmarks of the archaeological method. First of all, the planned attack on the problem presented by the excavation. The work was planned,' says