228 



NATURE 



[January 9, 1908 



systematic excavntion of historic remains in Wales 

 and the Marches. As a result of the meeting- con- 

 vened bv the Lord Mayor of Liverpool (Dr. R. Caton) 

 — an event already chronicled in these columns — a 

 fund has been started and committees appointed — 

 general, advisory, and financial — for the furthering of 

 the scheme. The actual operations, needless to say, 

 will be watched by the heads of the archaeological 

 school, Profs. Bosanquet, Garstang, Myres, and New- 

 berrv. Assistance has also been promised by Prof. 

 Haverfield, of O.xford. The work will be carried out 

 in cooperation with the University of Wales, with the 

 Cambrian Archaeological Association, with the dis- 

 trict or county societies, and with such local com- 

 mittees as it may be found advisable to form from 

 time to time. All these bodies are to be represented 

 on the general committee, which is to include the 

 names, not only of well-known scholars, such as Prof. 

 Haverfield, Sir John Rhys, and Dr. Arthur J. Evans, 

 but of patriotic Welshmen representing every interest 

 and every shade of opinion. 



The magnitude of the undertai<ing and its import- 

 ance for the study of Welsh ethnology and history 

 can hardly be exaggerated. Owing, it is suggested, 

 to the absence of a capital where their records could 

 be brought together and examined, the Welsh have 

 unduly neglected the investigation of their past, so 

 that the questions which beset the historian are un- 

 usually numerous and difificult. It has been the 

 fashion hitherto to search for their solution in the 

 national literature, the memoirs, so to speak, of the 

 people themselves, taking them, in fact, at their own 

 valuation. It cannot be denied that this method has 

 its advantages, the facts which it supplies, when they 

 can be shown to be facts indeed, stamping themselves 

 on the mind with peculiar vividness. In this case, 

 however, they have only too often ended as they 

 began, mere autobiography, with little or no objective 

 value, good material for history, it may be, but still 

 not history. It can no longer be doubted that the 

 stud)' of the Welsh te.xts, if it is not to end in mere 

 guess-work, must be supplemented for the early 

 period, at any rate, by the study of evidence of another 

 kind, the evidence, that is to say, of historic sites 

 and monuments. That such is to be obtained has been 

 shown by the sporadic excavations of recent years, but 

 until last November it seemed useless to hope for 

 a systematic archaeological inquiry ; now at last, under 

 the direction of men who will not suffer a penny or 

 the stroke of a pick to be spent in vain, the secrets of 

 cromlech, camp and battlefield will be brought to 

 light, and the story of the past reconstructed step bv 

 step. 



There are several directions in which research 

 seems particularly needed. It is important in the first 

 place, through the exploring of Roman sites, to deter- 

 mine the relation of the mountaineers to the Roman 

 army in possession, a subject which so far has remained 

 shrouded in mystery. How excavation can help to 

 increase our knowledge of the later Roman Empire 

 may be seen from the work carried out in Germany 

 and Austria, in North .Africa and Asia Minor, where 

 the Roman frontier defences have in each case been 

 marked out and made available for comparison, or, 

 looking nearer home, from the operations of the 

 Society of Scottish Antiquaries and other learned 

 bodies, during the past ten years, in Scotland. Though 

 only nine or ten of the Scottish forts have been in- 

 vestigated, definite conclusions have alreadv been 

 foimed. The scanty statements of civilians writing 

 at a distance, which used to be our sole authorities 

 for Roman Scotland, it has now been found possible 

 to verify and amplify by means of the handiwork and 

 personal belongings of the frontier guards themselves. 



NO. 1993. ^01.. 77] 



At the present time there are ten Roman sites, most 

 of them military posts, awaiting excavation in Wales 

 and the Marches, and there is no reason to doubt 

 that it will be as fruitful in their case as in any of 

 those we have mentioned. We shall be disappointed 

 indeed if it does not enable us to judge of the length 

 of the Roman occupation of Wales, of their frontier 

 policy, and the character and methods of their govern- 

 ment. We need hardly jjoint out that light shed on 

 these subjects will be liglil, not only on the Silures, but 

 on Roman Britain as a whole. 



From the Roman remains the committee may pro- 

 ceed with advantage to the examination of the sites 

 and monuments of early Christianity in Wales. Here 

 also valuable data may be had for comparison from 

 other countries, much having been done, both in 

 Ireland and France, to preserve and record the memo- 

 rials of the primitive church. Among Welsh eccle- 

 siastical sites Bangor is y Coed in Flintshire, and 

 Whitland (Ty Gwyn Ar Dav) in Carmarthenshire 

 seem to promise the richest results. Again, the 

 monasteries of Norman times might be explored with 

 a view to the production of a Welsh Monasticon, the 

 place and personal names in the charters to be cor- 

 rected with such accuracy as to make these a help, 

 not, as now, a stumbling-block to the student. 



Other subjects for investigation will suggest them- 

 selves without doubt to all those interested in the early 

 history of this island. The reader will have noticed 

 that the researches specified above are mainly in the 

 nature of digging out or clearing of the ground. We 

 need scarcely remind him that valuable evidence may 

 also be obtained through the observation of things 

 on its surface. The materials for the early historv 

 of Wales, like that of other countries, must be sought 

 with the theodolite no less than with the pick or 

 shovel. That it will help us to fuller knowledge of 

 the pre-Celtic inhabitants of the country has been 

 made clear by Sir Norman Lockyer during his expe- 

 ditions to South Wales. He has indicated the lines 

 to be followed in this kind of inquiry, and the com- 

 mittee cannot do better than follow in his steps. It is 

 occupied as yet with preliminary arrangements. 

 Among the subjects which may be expected to engage 

 its attention in the first instance are the following : — 



(a) The preparation of an archaological map of 

 \\ales and the Marches, on which all known sites and 

 individual finds shall be marked, together with a 

 bibliography and index of all known information 

 regarding them. 



(b) The execution of an archaeological survey of the 

 whole area, to supplement the recorded material, and 

 complete the arch<eological map, so far as surface 

 evidence is required. 



(c) The consideration of a scheme of successive ex- 

 cavations for the sites, which may be selected as of 

 most crucial importance, for the solution of the ques- 

 tions of distribution and historical sequence, certain 

 to be raised by the preliminary survey and mapping. 



We will only remark, in conclusion, that great 

 schemes cost money, and that those which we have 

 been discussing are not likely to disprove the rule. 

 The expense of surveying a county has been estimated 

 at 150^., that of excavating each of the Roman forts, 

 together with the exploration of the adjacent roads 

 and the subsequent publication of results, at not less 

 than loool. Liverpool is proverbially generous, but 

 even so there will be ample room for the liberality 

 of sympathisers outside, both \\"elshnien and others. 

 We sincerely hope that the appeal of the committee 

 will not be made in vain ; it would be regrettable 

 indeed if its work were retarded or hampered 

 through lack of the necessary funds. 



We are given to understand that an illustrated 



