Following a pilot project carried out by the Dyfed Archaeological Trust (Williams 1995) it had been decided that the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust (GGAT) should carry out an assessment of the known burnt mounts within the former counties of Glamorgan and Gwent. Despite being one of the most common site types in Britain (n=c.2,500, from ADS in Brown and Davis 2005), the most common site type in Ireland and very common in regions of western Wales, only 18 burnt mounds are registered on the SMR of south-east Wales.
Numbers such as these in the various countries of the British Isles, and the comparative lack of the same in Wales, and in southeast Wales in particular, along with the lack of information within the burnt mound records of the GGAT SMR provided the necessary spur to finally investigate the nature of the record in the Glamorgan Gwent area.
The term burnt mound refers to an enigmatic monument that constitutes a mound constructed from heat cracked stone and fire debris, beneath which can often be found a series of pits and troughs that are sometimes lined with wood or stone. The purpose of the activity that created these mounds is highly contested with a number of theories have being suggested, including a form of ritual sauna, cooking and metalworking. Of these theories the most often sited is their use in cooking.
