2014 Season - PEN14

Our 2014 field school, took place between 21 July and 15 August 2014. The four week season operated as two 14-day training excavations for 52 undergraduate students from the University of Liverpool, and 6 international students whom applied to the Liverpool Field School via the Institute of Field Research (IFR Global) in California. Work in 2014 commenced with the reopening of Area 1, which we extended west to incorporate the quarry scoop. We also opened new Area 3, over a potential house platform south west of Area 1. Our research aims this year were to:

1. Extend Area 1, to investigate the potential for prehistoric features.
2. Remove all late collapse deposits from both areas, locating the prehistoric ditch in Area 1.
3. Characterise the nature of the platform in Area 3, excavate late collapse/occupation deposits to obtain material for carbon dating.

With all modern damage to the monument recorded in our previous seasons, we continued to excavate the many episodes of earlier rampart collapse, gradually exposing more of the surviving rampart structure. Excavation confirmed our theory that the wall along the inner rampart crest is a later addition to the hillfort, most likely during the Medieval period when it seems Penycloddiau was re-enclosed - perhaps as a deer park, prior to later post-Medieval agricultural use in the 17th/18th century. 

The removal of numerous rampart collapse deposits revealed even more phases of collapse, as well as further intact rampart. Particularly good progress was made exposing the upper levels of inner rampart internal revetment – which our keen students worked very hard to excavate/record. We are now confident that the inner rampart is comprised of an earthen/stone core, revetted front and rear by dry stone walls. Having removed more collapse from the inner rampart outer revetment, the ‘double skinned’ construction – which we believed was visible in 2013 – has become less convincing and is now more likely to be a single alignment of stones - akin to the inner revetment.

In Area 3, we managed to excavate all post-occupation and accumulation deposits from what we believe to be a prehistoric house platform. This exposed a thin deposit containing a comparatively high proportion of charcoal, which could indicate a phase of destruction. Our students worked hard to excavate a series of internal cut features in the centre of the platform, as well as identifying and excavating a series of potential post holes sitting outside the level platform area. Our current theory is that the platform may have been the site of a turf walled house, the subsequent decay of which has left little trace of the upstanding house construction.

Next season we will continue with the excavation of potential floor/occupation deposits in Area 3 and obtain a section through the bank material, to understand its construction. In Area 1, we will finish removing all the early collapse deposits off the inner rampart, which should then allow us to finally excavate the ditch between the inner and outer rampart.