A chariot buried in Pembrokeshire around 48-78 CE, decorated with Celtic art but built with Roman technical knowledge, is forcing archaeologists to rethink how indigenous Britons and Roman colonisers exchanged skills and ideas. The vehicle is the last known chariot burial from northern Europe, and its hybrid design—Celtic ornamentation fused with Roman engineering—sits at the centre of a puzzle about cultural continuity during conquest. The project will build two full-scale replica chariots: one to document and test endangered British crafts like wagon-making and wheelwrighting, the other as a centrepiece for public exhibition. Through workshops and creative performances with local communities—from buggy racers to carriage drivers—the team will explore how archaeological finds generate a sense of belonging, captured in the Welsh concept of *cynefin*. This is primarily curiosity-driven fundamental research into Roman colonisation and Celtic identity. If successful, it will produce new methods for heritage practice that deepen public connection to place and care for the historic environment, while preserving craft knowledge that might otherwise disappear.
View original technical description
In 2018, an unexpected discovery brought to light the burial of a charioteer who lived through the Roman campaigning period and final conquest of Wales (c. 48-78 CE), catching the imagination of diverse Pembrokeshire communities. The vehicle itself is a challenging mystery: this is the ‘last’ chariot burial from northern Europe with intriguing differences to those of the earlier Iron Age, making it an internationally important discovery. Its decorated chariot-gear belongs to a period of vigorous indigenous Celtic art but other aspects hint at technical knowledge drawn from the Roman world itself. In a collaboration between the University of Manchester (UoM) and Amgueddfa Cymru-Museum Wales (AC-MW) we will use conservation-led archaeological research to analyse the cultural and historical puzzle that this vehicle poses and maximise the academic value and public benefit of this discovery. We will investigate the impact of Roman colonisation by exploring continuity and change in craft skill and technology, art and material culture, as well as beliefs and funerary rites. The project will also examine the power of the chariot as an enchanting heritage icon, with the power to appeal to different horse-loving communities, from buggy racers to carriage drivers, crossing cultural and class boundaries. We will design creative performances with local communities to shape the final story we tell and analyse how the chariot burial has become a literal and metaphorical vehicle of cynefin - the unique Welsh word that conjures how a sense of belonging can be enriched by connections with places and their past. Our four objectives are: To investigate the chariot’s materials, construction and design to examine knowledge exchange and cultural dynamics between Iron Age and Roman worlds. We will build on existing excavation and survey data, to examine this at three new scales: the vehicle, its grave and local landscape context; a regional survey of Conquest-era West Wales; and comparative survey of chariotry and chariot burial in the UK and near Continent. To explore insights from this analysis through experimental archaeology by creating two replica vehicles; one to enable the documentation and field-testing of two endangered British crafts (wagon-making and wheelwrighting) and as an ‘affective object’ to generate emotional engagements with the past, whilst the other will form an eye-catching centrepiece for exhibition. To use heritage workshops and creative arts methods to better understand how cynefin is produced through interactions with archaeological discoveries and the creative production of community stories about finds: developing heritage practice methods to deepen connections with place and care for the historic environment. To disseminate the story of the chariot and charioteers through co-produced performances, publications and exhibitions, diversifying and enriching ownership of Celtic heritage. Through academic partnership with a national museum, local arts organisations and community groups, the project will maximise the value of an unexpected and exceptional discovery. Its legacy lies in transforming these finds into national icons which speak to a wide variety of groups through themes of place, identity, resistance and resilience.
Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.
Is something wrong? Let us know