Odo 2

Design by Dragon Enterprise

Evidence o f earlier timber structures in Gwynedd; excavations

Castell Odo.

The first site to produce evidence of timber structures preceding stone structures in the area was Castell Odo, Aberdaron, Caerns (Alcock 1960). The site is not strictly a hut-group but belongs to a class with more affinities to the hillforts, termed by the Royal Commission weak double ringworks (RCAHM 1964, lxxvi-lxxviii). However, its precise morphology is unimportant and its significance here lies instead in the excavator's identification of an undefended settlement of timber structures around which, apparently, an attempt was made to build a palisade. These features clearly preceded the building of stone-walled roundhouses and the complete fortification of the hilltop with earth and stone ramparts. In the earlier phase (Phase 1A, Alcock 1960, 84-86) two timber roundhouses were tentatively identified, Building A, represented by a rough arc of post-holes which it was conjectured held the main supports for both the outer wall and the roof of a structure about 6 m in diam, and Building B, more tenuous, comprising only two certain post or stake holes, one doubtful, an elaborate drain and a quantity of occupation refuse. In the case of Building A, the posts are more likely to belong to the inner ring of roofsupports for a larger structure where the outer wall has left no trace (Guilbert 1981), making it closer in size to the Moel y Gerddi and Erw-wen roundhouses at about 9 m in diam (figs 6 and 16). During phase B which followed (Alcock 196o, 88-90), the settlement was hastily fortified with a wooden palisade. This was apparently never completed around the whole site, but a short length of its slot found ,adjacent to Building B indicates that it was probably similar to that at Moel y Gerddi.

Both Buildings A and B, and by inference the palisade, were associated with finds of pottery which were ascribed to a primary phase of Iron Age colonization. The dating of this assemblage, and therefore the houses, was conjectural, but as it was by far the largest group of wares of the period known from North Wales, speculation continued. This prompted a supplementary excavation in 1975 on a bank surviving between two of the original excavation trenches to find charcoal for C14 assays. Four results were obtained which have been commented on by Alcock in an unpublished draft.

At the z-sigma range, three of the results were between 2045 BP and 2655 Br with overlaps in the period between 2215 BP and z390 Br (UB-2145 at 2290 ± 5o BP; UB-2147 at 2435 ± 110 Br and UB-2186 at 223 5 ± 95 Br).

The fourth date (UB-2146 at 3150 ± 45 Br) was argued to be a statistical rather than an archaeological error, but even without calibration, they all match the Moel y Gerddi and Erw-wen dates at the 2-sigma range.

Site details and Illustrations

Hill Forts two