Aberdulais Falls

Abstract

Aberdulais Falls is a multi-period site, important because it participated in the early development of three of the major metals industries of Wales – copper smelting, ironworking and tinplate manufacture. For three centuries the River Dulais provided a natural head for water powered plant, the earliest of these being a copper works thought to have been established here in 1584. It was the site of a corn and grist mill c1765-1819, during which time it was a popular subject for travelling artists, Turner among them. This article is an interim report based on the archaeological work undertaken from 1982-5, and represents the author's term as Site Archaeologist at Aberdulais Falls. It argues that the extant remains belong, almost exclusively, to the two final periods of industrial activity – ironworking (c1819-40) and tinplate manufacture (c1840-90).     

The future could be too much fun

Abstract

More than ever before, the twenty-first century is likely to throw into focus the age old question: ‘what am I doing with my life?’ Recent developments in neuroscience mean that a scientific understanding of consciousness is no longer out of the question. The rapidly expanding field of genetic medicine will soon allow single gene disorders such as cystic fibrosis to be treated routinely by gene ‘therapy’ and has already thrown up complex ethical questions surrounding the idea of genetic screening for insurance purposes. And the latest directions in computer science have the potential to challenge our ideas of reality, as well as confusing our understanding of the distinction between information and knowledge. In this paper I revisit the notions of human nature and personal identity in the light of these advances.