800 BC-AD 43 Iron Age

Most Iron Age communities in Wales lived in small farms and villages surrounded by banks and hedges. In the north-east of the country however, there are a number of larger hillforts.

Iron Age societies in Wales did not use a great deal of pottery. As in Ireland and parts of Scotland and northern England, people cooked in and ate from containers made of other materials. This lack of pottery means that dating sites in this region is problematic. After the Romans conquered Wales many sites were probably used on into the Roman period, while for people in many parts of the country Iron Age ways of living carried on.

A Roman historian reported that the island of Anglesey off the north coast was a centre of pagan religion and Druidic training. One of the most important discoveries of Iron Age objects in Britain was found on Anglesey. At Llyn Cerrig Bach a large hoard of iron and bronze objects was discovered that had probably been a religious offering placed in a lake. Another ancient offering, from a lake at Llyn Fawr in Glamorganshire, included probably the most famous hoard of early iron objects ever found in Britain and dates from the very start of the Iron Age.