EMERGING SETTLEMENT MONUMENTALITY IN NORTH WALES DURING THE LATE BRONZE AND IRON AGE: THE CASE OF MEILLIONYDD Raimund Karl Prifysgol Bangor University Abstract: In this paper, I outline the development of the 1 st millennium BC settlement at Meillionydd near Rhiw on the Llŷn peninsula in northwest Wales, which evolved from an unenclosed cluster of roundhouses into a double ringwork enclosure embanked by two concentric drystone-faced earthen banks before being slighted and nearly completely flattened in what appears to be a rather labour intensive closure rite. I then try to interpret the meaning associated with this process of enclosure and abandonment, and what it might tell us about the beginnings of a process of social evolution that turned the mostly egalitarian, kinship-based societies of the beginning of the 1 st millennium BC into the highly hierarchised, aristocratic societies of the Welsh Middle Ages. --- DuƌiŶg lateƌ pƌehistoƌLJ, seǀeƌal paƌts of CeltiĐ Euƌope aƌe ĐhaƌaĐteƌised by the emergence of particular settlement types, usually characterised by (more or less) monumental enclosure of the oĐĐupied spaĐe. These eŶĐlosed hoŵesteads, ƌegaƌdless of ǁhetheƌ theLJ aƌe Đalled Viereckschanzen as in southern Germany and neighbouring areas, fermes indigenes as in parts of France, ringforts as in Ireland, or by different names, are a distinct new feature in the settlement record and seem to indicate the emergence of equally new forms of community organisation on a relatively small sĐale that Đould ďe Đalled the household leǀel ;foƌ the use of this teƌŵ see e.g. Hill 1995, 73). Yet, it is Ŷot the ĐoŶĐept of the household, the eĐoŶoŵiĐallLJ ŵoƌe oƌ less self-sufficient small community, normally consisting only of a handful up to a few tens of members, that is new: such small-scale communities certainly existed already well before. What seems to be new is that soŵe suĐh ĐoŵŵuŶities, ďut Ŷot all, Đƌeated aŶ edžĐlusiǀe Đouƌt, ǁhiĐh is ďouŶd to haǀe had, possibly from the very beginning, or at least seems to have accumulated over time, additional social functions; functions which go well beyond just the mere practical creation of a relatively fixed ďouŶdaƌLJ aƌouŶd the settleŵeŶt that keeps stuff pƌoteĐted ǁithiŶ fƌoŵ possiďle thƌeats from outside. And these courts were monumentally enhanced, which not only made their construction more labour- and resource-iŶteŶsiǀe thaŶ that of aŶ oƌdiŶaƌLJ faƌŵ, ďut also gaǀe theŵ aŶ increased permanency as features in the cultural landscape. The Llŷn peninsula and Meillionydd enclosure Since 2010, as part of a larger project examining later prehistoric settlement in North-West Wales (Waddington 2013), Bangor University has been conducting regular excavations at one such settlement, Meillionydd double ringwork enclosure, to examine the process of emerging settlement monumentality during this period. Meillionydd is located on the top of a small spur, jutting out toǁaƌds the ǁest fƌoŵ MLJŶLJdd ‘hiǁ Ŷeaƌ the ǁesteƌŶ eŶd of the LlŷŶ peninsula at SH21902905, at ƌoughlLJ ϭϵϬ ŵ OD. It is oŶe of Đ. ϭϬ ĐloselLJ Đoŵpaƌaďle sites oŶ the LlŷŶ, aŶd the Đlosest oŶe to the only other that has previously been partly excavated, Castell Odo (Alcock 1960), which has produced finds dating, most probably, from as early as the 9th or 8th century BC (Waddington 2013, 209), until at least the Iron Age (Waddngton 2013, 210), though Alcock (1960, 98) originally suggested that the site may have continued to be occupied into the Romano-British period.