BR156

Nant-Maden Round Cairn  

 

Designated  

Rhondda Cynon Taff  

Hirwaun  

297089  

210591  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

Round Cairn  

Prehistoric  

The following provides a general description of the scheduled monument. The monument comprises the remains a burial cairn, probably dating to the Bronze Age (c. 2300 - 800 BC). The round cairn measures 25m in diameter and 1.5m in height. It is built of stones with larger quartz boulders forming an outer kerb and an inner horseshoe-shaped ring. In the middle is an upright quartz boulder measuring 1m by 1m by 0.20m. The site was excavated in 1959/60 by D.P. Webley and T.W. Burke and was found to be of at least two periods. The monument is of national importance for its potential to enhance our knowledge of prehistoric burial and ritual practices. 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, together with environmental and structural evidence. Cairns may be part of a larger cluster of monuments and their importance can further enhanced by their group value. The scheduled area comprises the remains described and areas around them within which related evidence may be expected to survive.