Throughout its early history, as in later periods, the human settlement of Wales has been dictated by the geographical personality of the countryside. It is part of the highland zone of Britain, a land chiefly of mountain and  hills .its connections with the eastern parts of Britain facing mainland Europe are less than those with Ireland  - (hence the two Ferry  Terminals of  Pembroke to Rosslare and in the north Holyhead to Dublin) and with the western sea route that brought the Mediterranean into contact with Scandinavia . . . a.k.a. The vikings (although that was in  the then ‘future’ lol!)

Wales's relative physical isolation meant that native cultures persisted for many centuries after they had been replaced in lowland Britain. An outstanding example is the hut circles of the Bronze Age in North Wales, which were absorbed into the cultures of the Early Iron Age and continued in use well into Romano‐British times. Caves, also, which were used in prehistoric times, continued to be used as the homes of Romano‐British people. At the same time, the settlement of Wales was governed by the height of the human habitation line on the mountain sides, and by the presence of coastal plains in the south and southwest.

The Stone Age
No evidence of human settlement in Wales exists from the Lower Palaeolithic, but remains from the later stages of the Palaeolithic have been found in the caves of North Wales in the Vale of Clwyd, and in the Gower Peninsula. It was in the Gower, in Paviland Cave in the early 19th century, that Dean William Buckland discovered the oldest human burial yet known in Britain!!!

The food‐gathering economy of the Mesolithic period is represented in North Wales, at Prestatyn in Clwyd, and elsewhere along the coasts, which provided fishing and pebbles for conversion into tools. Wales is rich in remains of chambered tombs, cairns, stone circles, and other standing stones from the Neolithic period. From  detailed study, archaeologists  have been able to recognize  a distinctive megalithic  culture  centred  round the River Severn. An  outstanding feature of the Neolithic period was a factory for the making of axes  of  igneous  rock near  Penmaenmawr, Gwynedd. Its products were widely traded. Later, in the Bronze Age, the blue stone of the Preseli mountains was quarried to form part of  the famous Stonehenge  in  Wiltshire  (England). I am  interested  in  to  find  a stone

That ‘Lynnie’ and her friend found  in  a Chapel  down

The road from here (literately) , when she was about 15 – 16 years old. Actually, it wasn’t actually ‘in’ the Chapel

It was in the graveyard  outside,  it bore some  marks on it,  which I now believe to be a form of writing.

The Bronze and Iron Ages
Settlement of Wales in the Bronze Age came from the Cotswold–Somerset area to the south coastal plain, and from Ireland. The Iron Age began in the 7th century BC and is known mainly from metalwork hoards (for example at Llyn Fawr).  Defences were built on higher ground, most are small, under 1 hectare/2.5 acres, and they are most densely distributed in the Marches (the region of the border with England), where larger ones are also found (for example, Croft Ambrey, Dinorben, Breiddin). Many small farmsteads were also fortified, some (for example, Whitton in Glamorgan) continuing later as Roman villas.