Prof. Howard M. R. Williams writes: some basic information about the Pillar’s complex biography evident on the surface and revealed through our 2010-12 excavations. In the spirit of a genealogy, rather than a biography, I begin with the present and move back into the past.
21st century – Archaeology, Reconstitution and Restrictions
20th century – Heritage and History
19th century – Tourism and Trees
18th century – Reconstitution and Rededication
17th century – Absent Presences
The Middle Ages – Naming the Monument
The Ninth-Century Cross
Only two fragments of the original cross-and-base survive and its text is near illegible. However, the text, circular form of the shaft, and large stone base are a striking and distinctive survival of a monument type better known from among the Mercian rivals of the kings of Powys who erected this monument. Likewise, the cross-shaft, with its swags, has ninth-century paralles from Cumbria and is a distinctive early medieval form.
What is particularly lacking is any evidence from the excavations of ninth-century activity. While post-excavation work might reveal further traces, our dig didn’t reveal conclusive evidence of the site’s use as a settlement, burial ground or anything else for that matter. This isn’t surprising, since identifying any of these activities from archaeological evidence from Western Britain in this period is a huge challenge.
Prehistoric Origins
Finally, at the top of the genealogy is the prehistoric evidence: we have conclusively and convincingly shown that the mound beneath the Pillar was a multi-phased Bronze Age kerbed cairn with at least three secondary cists. Only one of the cits we dug was found to be undisturbed. In this one, the cremated remains of multiple individuals – adult and children – and artefacts (a bone pin and flint scraper) were found. This form of mortuary practice is well attested from North Wales, but this conclusively demonstrates a prehistoric data for the monumental sequence.
Read more at:
https://howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/the-pillar-of-eliseg/
and
https://howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/the-pillar-of-elisegs-topography-of-memory/
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