Cairns and ‘cairn fields’ evidence of early agriculture on Cefn Bryn, Gower, West Glamorgan

SUMMARY

Perhaps only fifteen out of around 230 cairns on Cefn Bryn are likely ritual monuments of presumed Bronze Age date. The remainder are interpreted as stone clearance piles which cluster on better drained soils with greatest agricultural potential, though some uncertainty in attribution is inevitable. While a wide dating range is possible for; the clearance, it may at least partly have coincided with the construction of the ritual cairns. There is no direct information on the nature of past agriculture and cultivation seems as likely as grazing. Agricultural activity may relate to settlement on immediately adjacent lower ground.