Our central priority is to care for our historic environment through promoting its enjoyment and enjoyment of it. And it's important that we can understand, as far as we can, the past that we're talking about so that we can appeal to people in the present day and in future.

Now, the findings that have been made in these early periods in Wales are findings that are of international significance, in Paviland cave in the Gower, for example. And the history of construction of burial chambers—. These have been created, as David mentioned, referring to Tinkinswood—to Llech-y-filiast, or whatever we want to call it—in that area, an incredible place. These are notable buildings in the landscape. The Bronze Age saw thousands of these burial mounds spread across the landscape of Wales, with valuable items buried in them. The Mold cape is perhaps the most famous of them. The Iron Age saw further changes—the development of hill-fort communities and the hundreds of traces that exist across Wales, such as in Tre'r Ceiri.

For me, the institutions that have interpreted these sites, particularly the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales, which have recorded numerous new sites very recently during the dry summer, where traces were found in the rural landscape so that the prehistory came alive anew, as it were, because of the weather that we experienced at that time—. In those events, we have seen, through the work of the commission and through the extraordinary work that has been done, the way that there are interesting clusters of these prehistoric sites across our nation. One of the most notable, of course, is the clusters on Anglesey, and I wouldn't want to leave Anglesey out of any discussion of prehistory. The prehistoric monuments on Anglesey can rightly take their place with the Boyne Valley in Ireland, with Stonehenge in England. Indeed, these are amongst the most extraordinary sites in the British Isles and in Ireland. And there are sites under the care of Cadw, including the Neolithic burial chambers in Bryn Celli Ddu and Barclodiad y Gawres, which is not far away.

Cadw is also responsible for Neolithic burial chambers in the north of Pembrokeshire, including Pentre Ifan, and, in Glamorgan—as I've already talked about, as has the Member—Tinkinswood near St Nicholas, where I had an opportunity to spend a great deal of time with my family in that area, and I had the extraordinary experience of trying to explain prehistory to young children. So, it is important to emphasise that, in the contemporary provision of Cadw and the Government's work, we do appreciate this inheritance and legacy and we do strive to safeguard it.

I want to pay tribute to the archaeological trusts in Wales, which have visited and assessed every prehistoric site that we're aware of, and there are 23,000 such sites. And the whole host of information that has emanated from this are records that have legal status in the Historic Environment (Wales) Act of 2016. We are implementing the Act at the moment through the specific provision that has been made in giving direction for how to implement the Act, and we will be continuing to monitor that and will review it formally, indeed, in years to come.

Cadw also produces online maps, Cof Cymru, which include the location and description of every prehistoric site that has been safeguarded in Wales. This information is available, and it’s possible to access it, and the first-ever technical advice note for the historic environment was published as recently as last year.

Now, this work is ongoing, and the promotion work continues to be important. For this reason, I’ve brought a gift for the Member, which is a bilingual description for pupils of Llyn Cerrig Bach, Barclodiad y Gawres and Bryn Celli Ddu. As all Members can see, there are wonderful illustrations that reinforce and recreate the Neolithic and pre-Neolithic periods, but don't ask me to go through them, but they are historically accurate. We are trying to generate enthusiasm amongst the next generation in the long tradition that we are part of, and I’d like to not just thank the trusts, but also the national museum for their part. The extraordinary developments at St Fagans over the past two years have brought us to a situation where they have now re-opened officially, and the new galleries give a clear, explicit status to the prehistoric objects from all parts of Wales. You can’t go into any of the museums buildings without realising that the history of Wales is a long-running one and one that we should all respect. And I’m very grateful, once again, to discuss such an issue during a debate at the Assembly. Thank you.