Perforated shale beads found at the former Portal Dolmen site of Trefael, Pembrokeshire By George Nash, A recent excavation

undertaken in November 2010 in typical inclement Welsh weather at the Trefael Stone, near Newport in south-west Wales has revealed a small assemblage of exotic artefacts including three drilled shale beads, identical to those found at a nearby Early Mesolithic coastal habitation site. Until recently, little was known about the stones use and origin. During the early 1970s archaeologists had speculated that it may have once formed a capstone which would have covered a small burial chamber, probably a Portal Dolmen, one of Western Britains earliest monument types. A geophysical survey undertaken in September 2010 revealed the remains of a kidney-shaped cairn and it was within this clear feature that the three perforated shale beads were found. These items, each measuring c. 4.5 centimetres in diameter, were found within a disturbed cairn or post-cairn deposit. Based on the discovery of 690 perforated beads found at the coastal seasonal camp of Nab Head in southern Pembrokeshire, it is possible that the three Trefael beads are contemporary. Microware analysis on one of the beads (see plate) was inconclusive but the perforation appeared to have the same micro-wear abrasions as beads from the Nab Head site. The beads from the Nab Head site were oval-shaped and water worn (David & Walker 2004, 312). Each disc was uniform in shape and thickness and had been drilled using an awl-type flint tool, referred to as a meches de foret. It is probable that the Nab Head beads and those from Trefael were made for adornment, either sewn into clothing or forming bracelets/necklaces. In association with the perforated beads a number blanks were found suggesting that The Nab Head site was a production centre for bead making. Similar perforated shale beads have also been found at a number of other sites including Manton Warren (Humberside), Newquay (Cardiganshire), Star Carr (Yorkshire) and Staple Crag (Co. Durham). Beads of other geological types have also been found at the upland midWales site of Waun Fignen Felen, made from spotted mudstone and single finds from coastal locations at Freshwater East, Linney Burrows and Palmerston Farm, Pembrokeshire. Two perforated beads, one made of stone, the other from oyster shell has also been found in the Isle of Mann, at Cronk y Chule and Poyllvaaish respectively. The provenance of the Trefael beads is interesting in that the beads from the Nad Head site are dated to roughly the 9th millennium BCE (within the range of radiocarbon dates taken from hazelnuts) and the Trefael site is Neolithic, a period between the two sites of around 5,000 years. Chris Tolan-Smith (2008, 146) does express some caution with the limited dating of the Nab Head site and therefore the beads may be recent. It could be the case that the idea and meaning of adornment through perforating and wearing shale and shell beads extends into the Neolithic. It could that the beads originate from a much earlier phase of the Trefael monument when the place may have been used by hunter/fisher/gatherers. The early use of Neolithic burial-ritual sites is not uncommon in

Western Britain - e.g. the long mounds at Arthurs Stone (Herefordshire) and Gwernvale (Breconshire). Further excavation planned for the summer may reveal more of Trefaels possible Mesolithic past. References David, A. & Walker, E. A. 2004. Wales During the Mesolithic Period, in A. Saville (ed.) Mesolithic Scotland and its Neighbours. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Tolen-Smith, C. 2008. Mesolithic Britain. In. G. Bailey & P. Spikins (eds.) Mesolithic Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press