Excavation and survey at Pendinas hillfort, Penparcau, Aberystwyth, 2021 and 2023

Murphy, Ken, Jenkins, Luke, Shobbrook, Andrew, Murphy, Frances and Shiner, Marion 2026. Excavation and survey at Pendinas hillfort, Penparcau, Aberystwyth, 2021 and 2023. Archaeologia Cambrensis 174 (2025) , pp. 257-302.

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Abstract

Pendinas is the largest hillfort on the Cardigan Bay coast and the largest in the county of Ceredigion. Professor C. Daryll Forde excavated the fort’s gateways and several rock-cut platforms in the years 1933–37. No further excavations took place until the work described here, in 2021 and 2023. Forde proposed a four-stage fort development based on his narrow and widely spaced trenches. However, absolute chronology evaded him due to the paucity of artefacts, a common feature on hillfort excavations in Wales. In addition to obtaining scientific dates, the 2021/23 work included geophysical survey, UAV (drone) and conventional aerial photography and a new topographic survey. It was not possible to examine the earliest elements of the site, but radiocarbon dating indicates that the defensive system was expanded and remodelled c. 400–160 cal BC. Two rock-cut platforms were excavated, which are interpreted as house sites. They were occupied c. 390–170 cal BC, broadly the same period as the defences were being remodelled. Geophysical survey outside the fort detected additional lines of defence not visible on the surface and provided evidence for a more complex approach to the fort than previously appreciated. There was no evidence for either Roman or post Roman reuse of the fort

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion
Additional Information:	Contributions from Louise Barker, Genoveva Denova, Amy Halliday, Rachel Pope and Tim Young.
Publisher:	Cambrian Archaeological Society
ISSN:	0306-6924
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 May 2026
Date of Acceptance:	31 July 2025
Last Modified:	02 Jun 2026 08:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186992

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