Prehistoric landscapes

The earlier prehistoric period, before about 5000BC, is poorly represented in Meirionnydd in general, which is notable for the small number of stray finds of lithic objects belonging that period compared to the coastal areas of Llŷn, Anglesey and north Gwynedd (Smith, 2001). The inland area around Llyn Tegid is no exception, although there is more evidence of activity than in the surrounding uplands. Environmental studies of pollen preserved in upland peats in Ardudwy, close by to the west, have shown that these uplands were covered by well-developed woodland before the middle of the fourth millennium BC (Chambers and Price, 1988).

Evidence of activity in this area during the neolithic period between about 5000-2000BC is also largely absent, although there are large burial mounds that might be of neolithic date in the upper valley of the Dee to the east of the study area, one of which at least, Tanycoed, is chambered (Gresham 1967, 29-32). A large sub-circular enclosure has been identified on the flood plain of the Dee, at Ty-tandderwen, just east of Llyn Tegid, from aerial photographs and geophysical survey, and this seems likely to be a neolithic settlement or ceremonial enclosure (Smith and Hopewell, 2006).

There is also a historical record of a stone circle, Pabell Llywarch Hen ('The tent of Llywarch the Old), not far to the north, close to Llanfor. The circle was unfortunately removed in the 17th century during agricultural improvement but was described in an 18th century document (Gresham 1967, 283). Such stone circles are rare and their presence almost certainly indicates areas that were centres of later neolithic, and perhaps early bronze age, activity, perhaps emphasising the area's continuing importance, already alluded to during the Roman and early medieval periods . Three ring ditches belonging to former burial mounds of this period have recently been identified on the valley floor to the east of Llyn Tegid during geophysical survey of the complex of Roman forts there (area 07 - Crew 1997, 17-18) and there are historical records of standing stones near to Llangower (area 12) on the south side of Llyn Tegid. Associated settlement sites are likely to exist in the area and may be discovered during aerial survey work, as with the possible neolithic enclosure at Ty-tandderwen mentioned above.

The first millennium BC is a period, however, when actual settlement remains become quite numerous, with over a thousand examples known in north-west Wales (Smith, 1999). However, this settlement is concentrated around the western fringes of the uplands with little inland, and this holds for inland Meirionnydd and the Llyn Tegid area. However, recent detailed survey of uplands just to the north-west of Llyn Tegid has identified previously unknown widespread settlement remains (Muckle, 1993). These are undated but are of a type of scattered settlement more typical of uplands.

There are no known enclosed settlements or defended enclosures or hillforts of the first millennium BC in the Llyn Tegid area, and the nearest are three sites about 10km to the east. One is a simple, lightly-defended hilltop on Mynydd Mynyllod, which may well be of late bronze age date. The second is a partly-bivallate hillslope enclosure at Cefn Ddwysarn, possibly an unfinished site. The third is a large hillfort at Cefn Caer Euni, a strongly-defended bivallate fort with evidence of numerous houses and probable extension and refortification. This fort, significantly, overlooks the major route between the coast and inland that was eventually taken by a Roman road, rather than overlooking the Dee Valley, and the river crossing at the east end of Llyn Tegid was clearly an important point on this route. That, and the proximity of the hillfort, may have influenced the siting of the early Roman fort at Llanfor, just east of Bala (see above and below), and its apparent continuing importance, although later a new, stone-built fort was constructed at Caer Gai, at the west end of Llyn Tegid (area 15).