Beneath the windswept landscape of Parys Mountain on Anglesey lies a hidden world of ancient industry. Over 4,000 years ago, during the Bronze Age, pioneering miners carved their way deep into the earth in search of copper. This precious metal was a vital ingredient for the tools and weapons of the time, and the mines of Parys Mountain were among the most significant in prehistoric Europe. The scars of this Bronze Age activity remain a testament to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of our early ancestors.
After TerraDat’s work appeared in series one of BBC’s Hidden Wales, we returned for series two to digitally document two extremely challenging locations – both deep beneath the mountains of North Wales.
3D fly-thru of ancient mineworkings beneath Parys Mountain
After descending a centuries-old wooden ladder, we crawled through muddy, unstable passages to a location where we set up a Faro laser scanner and lighting.
This animation shows laser scan data that flies through Victorian workings, over deadly pools of acid and breaks through a small hole to enter amazing 5,000-year-old Bronze Age copper mineworkings. It was a humbling experience to be one of just a few to visit this place and see the evidence of those ancient miners still lying all around.
The full episode is well worth a watch and can be found on iPlayer here.