GM575

Tarren Maerdy cairn (E)  

14/11/2003  

Designated  

Rhondda Cynon Taff  

Pentre  

298049  

197089  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC). It is situated within open moorland, immediately below the south-east end of a local summit on the main ridge of Cefn y Rhondda. The stone-built cairn is circular on plan and measures about 8m in diameter and up to 0.4m in height. The remains of a stone cist are visible, with a large flat capstone lying immediately to the south-west, partially overlying the south-east side of the cist. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual. The monument is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape and retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence, including a buried prehistoric land surface. The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.