BR367

Llethyr Waun-lwyd ring cairn  

09/03/2007  

Designated  

Powys  

Llanafanfawr  

297841  

260078  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Ring Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument comprises the remains of a well-preserved and infilled ring cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c.2300 BC - 800 BC) and situated on a gently sloping terrace on the flanks of Drum Ddu, with fine views over the rolling landscape to the S. The ring cairn is circular on plan and measures about 9m in diameter within a grass-covered stony ring bank 2m in thickness and 0.2m in height. The interior of the cairn has been infilled with rubble. Although the cairn has been disturbed in the past, with several hollows visible within its interior, the majority of the cairn appears to be largely intact. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. Excavated examples have shown these monuments to be essentially ceremonial - although with a consistent link with the burial of the dead (some cremation burials have been revealed). Rituals involving the burning and deposition of charcoal, perhaps symbolic of the funeral pyre, would seem to have been important. The well preserved monument 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. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and an area around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive. It is circular and measures 30m in diameter.