Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cleared by the end of the Neolithic period, or at least by the early Bronze Age, some 4,000 years ago. The
siting of barrows, in locations where they are clearly visible from the ground below, also implies that the
landscape was open when the barrows were built. It is often stated that people in the Bronze Age were
primarily nomadic shepherds, with herds of cattle and sheep, who also hunted for food, but they are also
likely to have grown cereal crops in lowland areas such as Gower.
The later Bronze Age, about 3,500 years ago, is notable for the formal demarcation of the landscape,
with a dispersed pattern of small open settlements set within field systems. Bronze Age artefacts have
been found in Gower (Fig. 26), but if the people who made them were farming the peninsula then the
fieldsystemstheycreatedareunrecognisedorhavebeenremovedbylatercultivation.Itisquitepossible,
however,thatfragmentsoftheboundariesofBronzeAgefieldsystemssurvivetothepresentday.Around
the fringes of Dartmoor, for example, some hedges still continue the boundaries (reaves) of Bronze Age
field systems. In looking for evidence in the peninsula it would be worth investigating the original limits
of the commons as they are certainly amongst the oldest surviving boundaries. A prehistoric date has also
been suggested for a linear wall of sandstone blocks, some 1.7 metres wide and 0.2 to 0.3 metres high,
which runs for some 400 metres across the ridge of Rhossili Down. It is likely that the wall marked territ-
ory, perhaps for the regulation of grazing. The division of the landscape and a possible nearby settlement
enclosure do seem to reflect the agricultural exploitation of the area at an early date. The structure could
nevertheless have been constructed at any time during the later prehistoric or early historic periods.
