 Relics of the Dark Ages are uncommon within the Glamorgan area and secular monuments are still rarer . The few sites discovered from this period have been located in the Bro , or lowlands , leaving historians to believe that the Blaenau were sparsely inhabited , maybe only visited seasonally by pastoralists . A few earthwork dykes are the only structural relics in the Rhondda area from this period and no carved stones or crosses exist to indicate the presence of a Christian shrine . During the Early Middle Ages communities were split between bondmen and freemen . The bondmen lived in small villages centred on a court or <unk> of the local ruler to whom they paid dues ; while the freemen , who enjoyed a higher status , lived in scattered homesteads . The most important village was the ' mayor 's settlement ' or <unk> . Maerdy in the Rhondda Fach has been identified as a <unk> , mainly on the strength of the name , though the village did not survive past the Middle Ages . The largest concentration of dwellings from this time have been discovered around Gelli and Ystrad in the Rhondda Fawr , mainly platform houses . 
