Alan Lane

Justine Bayley

Ewan Campbell

The kingdom of Dal Raita emerged in Argyll in the early centuries AD, after the Romans had abandoned Scotland. Unlike the Picts to the North and the British Celtic tribes to the South, the rulers of Argyll were Gaelic speakers who had crossed the sea from Ireland. This book describes the results of new excavations at Dunadd, the rocky hill on which these early Scots built a citadel. The authors also review past research at the site, and discuss what we know of Dalriadic society and culture.

An Early Dalriadic Capital

Dunadd

Nancy Edwards

A Critical Reassessment and Gazetteer of the Archaeological Evidence for Secular Settlements in Wales

Early Medieval Settlements in Wales A.D.400-1100

After an unsettling discovery, Sesily Dearborn was forever changed, her life embarking on a journey that would change the lives of everyone she knew. Isolated from her parents, she was left alone only with a maid from the family estate, as well as a soldier from her village. Now facing a world she never knew anything about, Sesily struggles to learn more about herself, her world, and the forbidden item she has discovered. As destiny has preordained, however, her fate is strung loosely on the thin strands of life and death. Finding unlikely allies, such as an obnoxious and arrogant reporter, a world-famous sharpshooter, and a promiscuous priestess, Sesily overcomes the challenges of a country built on conflict and survival of the brave. With her friends, Sesily faces a multitude of enemies. Terrifying heathens, known as Reapers, serve as a constant pestilence. The dark Coven of Witches seeks to destroy the country and rule it as their own, and an evil greater than the two combined yearns for the very power Sesily possesses. (Facebook Alan Lane Fan Page)

Beneath the Light

Mark Redknap

The Excavation of an Early Medieval Royal Site in the Kingdom of Brycheiniog

Llangorse Crannog

The crannog on Llangorse Lake near Brecon in mid Wales was discovered in 1867 and first excavated in 1869 by two local antiquaries, Edgar and Henry Dumbleton, who published their findings over the next four years. In 1988 dendrochronological dates from submerged palisade planks established its construction in the ninth century, and a combined off- and on-shore investigation of the site was started as a joint project between Cardiff University and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. The subsequent surveys and excavation (1989-1994, 2004) resulted in the recovery of a remarkable time capsule of life in the late ninth and tenth century, on the only crannog yet identified in Wales. This publication re-examines the early investigations, describes in detail the anatomy of the crannog mound and its construction, and the material culture found. The crannogs treasures include early medieval secular and religious metalwork, evidence for manufacture, the largest depository of early medieval carpentry in Wales and a remarkable richly embroidered silk and linen textile which is fully analysed and placed in context. The crannogs place in Welsh history is explored, as a royal llys (court) within the kingdom of Brycheiniog. Historical record indicates the site was destroyed in 916 by Aethelflaed, the Mercian queen, in the course of the Viking wars of the early tenth century. The subsequent significance of the crannog in local traditions and its post-medieval occupation during a riotous dispute in the reign Elizabeth I are also discussed. Two logboats from the vicinity of the crannog are analysed, and a replica described. The cultural affinities of the crannog and its material culture is assessed, as are their relationship to origin myths for the kingdom, and to probable links with early medieval Ireland. The folk tales associated with the lake are explored, in a book that brings together archaeology, history, myths and legends, underwater and terrestrial archaeology.

A deeply moving memoir of how one theatre company, Slung Low, fed their local community during the Covid pandemic of 2020. This is the vivid story of the cost of trying to do good in a divided world.

Alan Lane

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