IN ANCIENT TIMES
rickets. Sir Mortimer Wheeler, an eminent archeologist of the 1950’s and 60’s quoted that this is " the earliest case of the disease known in Britain, or probably in the world " and he adds that the disease was due to " deficiencies of sunshine and inadequate nourishment". With the beaker and the bones, there were bronze ornaments. Men using metal had arrived in the Fochriw area.
Considerably more evidence of this change is also found. At Dolygaer, on the northern shores of what is now Pontsticioll Reservoir just north of Merthyr Tydfil, another beaker was found but this was unusual because it was associated with cremated remains. In Gelligaer Village another beaker was photographed. Four axes were found at Pont Caradog at Groesfaen, and yet another axe was found in the 1950’s in the same valley. But metal was still rare.
The beaker vessel had been invented in Spain. It had spread into the Mediterranean and Central Europe before it was carried to Britain where the folk advanced westwards overland as small bands of conquerors who established themselves as overlords of the megalithic peoples, bequeathing them the wider use of barley for wheat, a knowledge of metals, and perhaps a new religion.
A unique prehistoric feature of this locality is Maen Catwg. Here, near Gelligaer Village, is a large isolated stone with forty cup markings or depressions on its surface. This type of decoration is also seen on megalithic cap stones in other parts of Wales. While there can be no certainty, one view is that these markings were associated with ritual involved in some form of sun worship.
The Middle and Late Bronze Age (about 1500 B.C. To about 500 B.C.).
In the long development of the Bronze Age there are two important discoveries. Firstly, two types of burials are apparent: large cairns, which dominate the skyline, and small cairns found in groups.
On the mountain above Treharris thirty such small cairns are found, while on Gelligaer Common a group of seven is recorded. These are obviously cemeteries in which the cremated remains were interred, but no exact excavations have been carried out.
The second important discovery is that considerable movement and trade was occurring. At Dolygaer, an ornament, made from Irish gold and now at the British Museum, shows a new direction of movement. Articles were also coming from the west. Obviously the Bronze Age population must have grown for cemeteries to be necessary, but the new developments of pottery and implements failed to arrive in this district owing probably to the difficulty of the route.
Beaker people beaker found at Llanharry (Rhonnda - Cynon - Taff)
