Speaking Archaeologically™

Pen Dinas Hill Fort, Aberystwyth Pen Dinas is the pre-eminent hillfort on the Cardigan Bay coast. The position of Pen Dinas allowed for visual command and political control of the two regional arterial rivers, with sweeping views both inland and also to the North and South of Cardigan Bay. This hour-glass shaped fort is situated on a ridge between the rivers Rheidol and Ystwyth.  Two peaks are enclosed and it is clear that originally they were separate enclosures. At first the northern summit was surrounded by ramparts with a timber revetment and a ditch. Soon afterwards, the southern crest was more substantially fortified with a stone-faced rubble bank and ditch some 3m deep. There were entrances at the north and south with gates supported by posts.  A period of decay or deliberate destruction may have followed before the southern fort was re-modelled. Eventually both forts were joined together with a new revetted wall across the saddle between the peaks, known as the Is

“Defaced ruins of architecture and statuary, like the wrinkles of decrepitude of a once beautiful woman, only make one regret that one did not see them when they were enchanting.”                                                                                            - Horace Walpole Rattan Kaur Rainu is a Research Wing member at Speaking Archaeologically since August 2018 This blog doesn’t begin on an adventurous note. Neither does it involve a spontaneous road trip. Rather it is the product of an intrigue that drove me to explore a place  I had never even heard of until a few days ago. Goethe said architecture is music. Well, architecture and music are the two things that have always been my favourite. Be it an an old abandoned house, or an enthralling corner of a fort, buildings have always appealed to me, maybe because, I am from a city that has been built, demolished and rebuilt seven times and hence the ruins and the ancient structures have a