Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixv. (192 1), No. 13 19 



' ' there was (sic) no scoriae in any quantity, nor, as it appeared 

 to him, the indispensable means and appliances for smelting 

 hard ores ; still they might perhaps have worked metal in these 

 huts, or even smelted the soft carbonates of copper usually 



found on the surface of lodes The quantity and large 



size of many of the pounding and smoothing stones found 

 could not have been for the exclusive purpose of preparing 

 food ; these appliances must have been used in some sort of 

 manufacture." (18; 10, 17, 18). There are several dolmens 

 on the island, but it is not possible to demonstrate that the 

 dolmen-builders made the huts. But the culture of the hut- 

 builders was so similar to that of people of the age of the 

 dolmen-builders in other parts of the country that there can 

 be little doubt about the matter. The concentration of dolmens 

 in Holyhead and Anglesea seems to be best accounted for by 

 concluding that the dolmen-builders came there on the same 

 errand as the hut-builders, even if they were not the same 

 people, i.e., that they were miners. 



As regards the Lleyn Peninsula, I am much indebted to 

 Professor Stopford for information with regard to old lead 

 mines there, and the distribution on the map is founded on 

 information derived from him. In Merionethshire there are 

 dolmens and stone circles in a region that contains ancient 

 mines, and also is near to an important goldfield. Elsewhere 

 in the Ordovician region are scattered dolmens, often asso- 

 ciated directly with a modern mine. 



Pembrokeshire presents a somewhat elusive problem. For, 

 in spite of the great extent of its igneous rocks, there does not 

 appear to be any great amount of mineral wealth. There is 

 a notable concentration of dolmens round Milford Haven and 

 the Clyddau river. This river is the home of pearl-bearing 

 mussels, and this may have constituted the attraction. But 

 on the banks of Milford Haven there are also factories of 

 stone implements where the dolmen-builders may have been 

 engaged in making stone implements. At the eastern end 

 of the Preselly Mountains there certainly are minerals, in 

 the form of silver-lead, and again at Newcastle Emlyn there 

 are lead mines. It seems that in this county we have to turn 

 to a variety of explanations for the distribution of dolmens, 

 but must attach chief importance to pearls. It is significant 

 that the hypothesis of the search for pearls affords an expla- 

 nation for so many Welsh dolmens — Conway River, Cardigan 

 Bay, and Pembrokeshire — and in all these cases they are 

 concentrated fairly closely, showing the existence of some 

 strong reason for settlement in such places. 



