Gold from the Bronze Age	Volume 53 Number 4, July/August 2000
by Chris Hellier

A gold mine in Dyfed, west Wales, one of the largest and most complex sources of ancient gold in Europe, could be much older than once thought. Roman excavations at the Dolaucothi mine are already well established, but initial findings by French archaeologists, among them Beatrice Cauuet, a Toulouse University specialist in ancient mining, suggest that the Romans came to a site that had already been worked. The mine may even date back to the Bronze Age some 3,000 years ago.

One of the earliest Welsh gold pieces ever discovered is the remarkable cape or collar from Mold, north Wales, which has been dated to the Middle Bronze Age. As yet, however, no detailed studies have been done on the provenance of its gold or that of other early Welsh gold ornaments.

© 2000 by the Archaeological Institute of America archive.archaeology.org/0007/newsbriefs/bronzeage.html