The Influence of People - Gower - page 51

In the small cornfields created in cleared areas arable plants such as dead nettles Lamium spp., char-
lock Sinapis arvensis and poppies Papaver spp. probably became established after being introduced with
crop seed, with docks Rumex spp. and plantains Plantago spp. occurring on areas of fallow land and in
pastures. The sea level was close to its present state during the Neolithic and sand dunes and salt marsh
were probably present in both Oxwich and Swansea bays. Salt marsh may have also extended along
Pennard Valley. These are naturally open habitats and they probably provided excellent grazing for both
cattle and deer in the winter when there was little food available in the forest.
Most finds and monuments of prehistoric date occur in the west and south of the peninsula. Near the
boundaryseparatingthefreelydrainedandpoorlydrainedsoilsNeolithiccommunitiesconstructedavari-
etyofmegalithicmonuments.Onlysixmegalithicchamberedtombssurvive,andtheycanbedividedinto
two groups based partly on their location and partly on their construction. The first group in the west in-
cludes the two Sweyne's Howes (the megalithic tombs on Rhossili Down; Fig. 24), Arthur's Stone and
Nicholaston tomb, while the second group in the southeast consists of Penmaen Burrows and the Parc
le Breos tomb (the Giant's Grave) in Green Cwm. The age of Sweyne's Howes is uncertain, but Parc le
Breos probably dates from the middle of the Neolithic period, between 4,800 and 5,200 years ago.
The type and the number of domestic animals kept by prehistoric farmers is an important indicator
of the character of the landscape. Forests can support quite high numbers of pigs, but few cattle, while
more cattle can survive on grassland and sheep are unable to live in woodland. Large numbers of cattle
bones, particularly when they are found alongside sheep bones, therefore indicate the presence of a signi-
ficant amount of open grazing land. Unfortunately while the animal bones recovered from Parc le Breos
included those of pig, sheep, goat and cattle, the numbers involved were too small to undertake a proper
analysis. Alongside the remains of domesticated animals, however, were bones of wild animals such as
red deer, wild cat Felis catus , fox Vulpes vulpes and badger Meles meles , which would seem to indicate
that the area was at least partially wooded at this time.