Читать книгу The Ceredigion and Snowdonia Coast Paths. The Wales Coast Path from Porthmadog to St Dogmaels онлайн

9 страница из 37

Undercut glacial cliffs near Mynachdy’r-graig (Day 10)

The processes of erosion and deposition are never-ending. We can see where the coastline is being changed today by the silting-up of the estuaries, or where marsh has formed and become vegetated, such as in the vast raised bog of Cors Fochno near Borth. And we can marvel at the huge dune systems formed in the last few hundred years, often as windblown sand has gained a toehold on the pebbles and gravels carried north up the coast by longshore drift.

History

Early settlers

By the time melting ice had finally cut Britain off from the rest of mainland Europe in about 5000BC, early colonists had already arrived on these islands. The first to leave visible evidence on the landscape, during the period from about 4000BC to 3000BC, were the Neolithic peoples. A number of Neolithic burial chambers are to be found in Gwynedd, a fine example being at Dyffryn Ardudwy. A number of stone circles, several near the coast, date from this time through to about 2000BC, as civilisation moved into the Bronze Age.