MG316

Siglem Las conjoined round cairns  

23/08/2007  

Designated  

Powys  

Pen-y-bont-Fawr  

302595  

323494  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of two conjoined burial cairns, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated within enclosed moorland on a SW-facing terrace below a locally prominent summit. The pair are aligned from NNE to SSW, with the larger cairn on the SSW. This cairn measures 5.5m in diameter and 0.4m in height. A large central cist has been exposed, measuring c.1m from NNE to SSW by 0.8m transversely within several upright stones. The cairn immediately to the NNE abuts the first and measures c.5m in diameter and 0.4m in height. There is an indistinct central hollow and what may be a displaced capstone lying on the NE side. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. The monument is well preserved and is an important relic of a prehistoric funerary and ritual landscape. It retains significant archaeological potential, with a strong probability of the presence of both intact burial or ritual deposits and environmental and structural evidence. Although disturbed in the past - both cairns have central hollows, presumably the result of antiquarian investigation or robbing - the pair form a structurally well preserved and unusual monument. The topographical association of the pair with nearby monuments of similar provenance - Bronze Age funerary monuments - further increases the archaeological potential and importance of the site. The area to be scheduled comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 28m in diameter.