Tinkinswood Community Archaeology

Have a look at the Western Mail article here:

This last week sees St Nicholas Primary school in the Vale of Glamorgan embarking on a journey back in time to explore and learn about the Neolithic period at Tinkinswood chambered tomb, but with a twist…. They had a chance to get into the mindset of a Neolithic tomb builder and re-create their own interpretation of a … Continue reading »

CREU A CHRACIO! Byddwn yn cynnal prosiect gyffrous ar gyfer ysgolion lleol yn Siamber Gladdu Tinkinswood diwedd mis Mawrth 2012. Bydd yn gyfle i’r genhedlaeth ifanc ddychmygu eu bod yn adeiladwyr siamber gladdu Neolithig, wrth iddynt ail-greu perfformiad defodol ar y safle… Ymunwch a ni! Is-lwythiwch pdf yma, a’i arddangos os hoffech chi: Make and Break … Continue reading »

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda! Happy New Year! St Lythan’s chamber, by Adam Stanford It’s been a while since we were digging at Tinkinswood and St Lythan’s, but we had an exciting and revealing time! Soon, we will be starting our outreach project, ‘Make and Break’, which will give the younger generation the chance to imagine themselves as Neolithic … Continue reading »

So, that’s it, we have finished our excavations at St Lythans! It has been an absolutely fantastic few weeks and we have found some amazing finds and discovered a lot about the monument. We have had an amazing time, have been extremely lucky with the weather (thanks to Ffion and her appeasing the weather gods!), … Continue reading »

We are in the middle of a really exciting week at St Lythans and will update the blog fully later in the week. A couple of teasers though….we have found the collapsed facade at the front of the monument complete with the rubble blocking that was placed in front of the chamber when it was … Continue reading »

We have now finished our first week at St Lythan’s, and what a week it has been! We have opened all but one of our trenches, revealing the top level of the archaeology. We’ve found out a lot about this monument’s structure and have had several interesting and exciting finds. Next week, we’ll be opening … Continue reading »

The excavations at the Tinkinswood sites ended last week. We move on to St Lythan’s Neolithic burial chamber next week, the project is not over! Very exciting times! Although we have left Tinkinswood, we will be back in March 2012 with a fantastic outreach project called ‘Make and Break’ involving two local schools. This will be … Continue reading »

It feels like its been a long time, but only two weeks ago, we didn’t really know what was going on around Tinkinswood. Now we do…. well we know that those two anomalies were NOT Neolithic… (one being later Victorian field clearnace, and the second a modest Bronze Age Barrow), enabling us to answer the … Continue reading »

Well, that’s it for Tinkinswood! It has been a really wonderful few weeks and we are so lucky to have had such a great group of people working with us. A huge thanks to everyone who came out to dig with us, we could not have done it without you! The weather has been extremely … Continue reading »

What a glorious sunny day on site, and a distinct contrast to yesterday when we had to call it a day in most of the trenches at 1pm due to flooding! Things are progressing well on site and we think we have pretty much resolved possible Cromlech 2 (in the field adjacent to Tinkinswood Farm). … Continue reading »

Excavations began around Tinkinswood this week and it’s been very exciting! We have dug trenches in the two possible fallen burial chambers, and dug some test pits in the quarry. So far we have found a number of finds. It’s still hard to tell conclusively what we are dealing with, but our knowledge of the site … Continue reading »

It’s been really busy at Tinkinswood over the past week, lots of vegetation clearance, but also lots being revealed. We are now in the last stages before the excavations begin on the 22nd of October. The excavations will be open each weekend: 29th/30th of October, and the 5th/6th of November. But now, we have another … Continue reading »

This is just a quick update about our plans to excavate at Tinkinswood. We won’t be excavating the main chamber as this has already been done under the direction of John Ward in 1914, but there are other features with high archaeological potential in a nearby field. The mystery arrangement of stones in the field … Continue reading »

Beddrod siambr Neolithig hardd yw St Lythan’s, sydd heddiw’n sefyll yn unig ond yn falch. Mae gan y safle leoliad gwych yn y tirlun ryw 70m OD ar dir sy’n syrthio’n raddol tua’r gogledd-orllewin yn agos i flaen Dyffryn Waycock. Golwg fanwl ar siambr St Lythan’s Er ei bod yn llai na siambr gladdu Tinkinswood … Continue reading »

As visible today, Tinkinswood is in a restored state following extensive excavations in 1914 by John Ward, first Keeper of Archaeology in the National Museum of Wales. John Ward’s reconstruction of Tinkinswood It gives a good impression of how megalithic tombs like this would have appeared in the past, although originally the capstone and the … Continue reading »

As part of the clearnace BTCV have uncovered a feature along the northern revetment at Tinkinswood burial chamber. Some have suggested that it might be a newly uncovered entrance to the chamber, but alas, some digging in the archives has provided evidence to suggest the more likely explanation…. This is an extract from John Ward’s … Continue reading »

Welcome to our first guest blog, a very special occassion! This post is written by one of our wonderful BTCV volunteers, Rebekah Nash… she is working on clearing the monument… Hello! My name is Rebekah, and I am a Geography student on voluntary work experience from the University of Glamorgan. I desperately wanted to get … Continue reading »

Mae gwaith yn parhau yn Tinkinswood heddiw, wrth i fwy o gwestiynau gael eu ofyn…. Mae BTCV yn gwneud ymdeithiadau gwych, edrychwch allan am flogiau oddiwrth un o’r gwirfoddolwyr! Mae’r llun nesa yn dangos beth ma BTCV wedi datguddio, ac nawr mae ochr gogleddol siamber Tinkinswood wedi ei arddangos yn glir. Mae’n gret gweld yr … Continue reading »

Work continues at Tinkinswood today, as more is revealed and more questions are asked…. BTCV have made great progress, watch this space as we begin our guest blogs! The image below shows how BTCV have progressed, and now the whole of the north side has been revealed. It was great to be able to see … Continue reading »

St Lythans is a beautiful Neolithic chambered tomb, which stand today in splendid isolation. This site is located in quite a commanding position in the landscape set at 70m OD on ground falling gently to the north-west near the head of the Waycock Valley. Although smaller than Tinkinswood burial chamber down the way, St Lythans … Continue reading »

Mae cyflwr Tinkinswood heddiw wedi’i adfer yn sgil gwaith cloddio helaeth ym 1914 gan John Ward, Ceidwad Archaeoleg cyntaf Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru. Adluniad Tinkinswood yn ôl John Ward Mae’n rhoi syniad da o sut y byddai beddrodau megalithig fel hyn wedi ymddangos yn y gorffennol, er y byddai twmpath o bridd wedi bod dros y … Continue reading »

Things have begun at Tinkinswood this morning with the clearance of around the burial chamber itself, clearing up the overgrowth and revealing the stonework underneath… The British Trust of Conservation Volunteers, using a local group, begin to clear and reveal the secrets of Tinkinswood… Local BTCV volunteers revealing the drystone revertment at Tinkinswood If you’d … Continue reading »