Welcome

Gathering the Jewels features over 30,000 images of objects, books, letters, aerial photographs and other items from museums, archives and libraries throughout Wales.

Search the map

Thumbnail image of Wales,

New to Gathering the Jewels is G.I.S. A geographical search facility that will enable searching by location and place name.

Topics

Home » The Domestic Sphere » Iron Age Settlements » Iron Age Settlements

Displaying results 1 to 6 out of 31

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Next >

Aerial photograph of Cytiau'r Gwyddelod (Hut Group), Holyhead Mountain, 1999
Site of Iron Age hearths, Merthyr Mawr, 1931
  • Many of the artefacts in everyday use during the Iron Age would have been made from wood, leather, basket work and textile. Usually they decay completely through time within the soil. Remarkably, these wooden objects survived within the waterlogged soils of a cistern or water pit situated inside a hillfort. The sword may have been a votive gift or a toy and the bowls would have been put to a range of uses during food preparation and storage.
Wooden bowls and sword from the Breidden hillfort, Criggion, near Welshpool
  • This figurine was discovered prior to 1871 within an Iron Age hillfort known as Gaer Fawr. It was once mounted as a crest upon a helmet of a warrior. Wild boars were prized forest animals and hunted at this time. They were often depicted with back bristles emphasised, symbolising aggression, especially when selected as decoration upon shields, war trumpets and helmets.
Boar helmet crest from Gaer Fawr Iron Age hillfort, near Welshpool
  • Heads were venerated by the Celts as the vessels of souls of the living and the dead. This example of a 'Celtic' stone head is carved with staring eyes, strong nose and the hint of a moustache. Three circular depressions on the top of the head may symbolise the Iron Age practice of trepanation; the drilling of holes in the skulls of the living for religious purpose. Alternatively, they may have been used in the Roman period to accept offerings of liquids such as wine or blood to the Gods.
Stone head from Llangeinwen
  • This highly decorated bronze piece was once thought to be the remains of a hanging bowl, but it is now thought more likely to be part of a ceremonial crown. It was found in a stone-lined grave in 1924, though the human skeleton did not survive within it.
The Cerrig-y-drudion Iron Age crown