A Site’s History Does Not End: Transforming Place through Community Archaeology at Tinkinswood Chambered Tomb and Surrounding Landscape, Vale of Glamorgan

Abstract

This article focuses on a community archaeology project conceived during a year-long placement at Cadw, the historic environment service for the Welsh Government, in 2011–12. This placement formed a part of the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) Community Archaeology Bursaries Project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund through its Skills for the Future programme. This article will explore one specific project during my placement and will concentrate on the Neolithic site of Tinkinswood and its immediate landscape in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales. In particular, it will discuss what we already know about the site, how the new project was constructed, and what contribution it makes to the overall understanding of the place. It will then move on to suggest how community archaeology projects can provide, not only innovative learning experiences, but also a chance for communities to re-connect with place, local archaeology, and their heritage.