Recent roundhouse excavations in Cornwall. (News & Notes).

Jones, Andy M. ; Taylor, Sean

During recent programmes of fieldwork the Cornwall Archaeological Unit have excavated two Bronze Age roundhouses along South West Water pipelines at Callestick near Perranporth and Trevilson near Mitchell. The opportunity to study later prehistoric lowland settlement in Cornwall has been very limited, excavation of the Bronze Age settlements at Trevisker (ApSimon & Greenfield 1972) and Trethellan Farm (Nowakowski 1991) being notable exceptions.

Both of the recently excavated sites are therefore important in understanding settlement activity, methods of building construction and especially the elaborate patterns of abandonment which accompany the closure of Bronze Age roundhouses in Cornwall.

The excavations of the roundhouse at Trevilson have just been completed. Half of a sub-circular feature extended into the pipeline corridor; excavation revealed the base of a circular wall lining a hollow, 7 m in diameter, cut into the bedrock. A gap 1.5 m wide to the southeast was interpreted as an entrance. Within the building a group of three large postholes followed a circular alignment inside the wall. These were visible below the deposits of deliberate infilling, suggesting that there was a single phase of occupation. A total of 40 Bronze Age sherds of pottery were recovered from various contexts within the roundhouse. In addition fragments of granite quern stones and two pieces of slag were identified. The interpretation of the structure at Trevilson is at a preliminary stage, though the pattern of deliberate infilling with deposits containing cultural material is already evident.

The analysis of the Callestick roundhouse is at a more advanced stage and the site is now awaiting publication (Jones forthcoming). As at Trevilson, the Callestick structure was situated within an artificial hollow approximately 8 m in diameter. However the entrance was more complex with a long porch extending from its southern side. Radiocarbon determinations from the structure have indicated that it was in use between 1100 and 700 BC. The structure may have fulfilled a `ceremonial' function, as it was set apart from the nearest identified likely area of contemporary settlement (identified by a subsequent geophysical survey, Linford 1997) and did not seem to have been used as a domestic dwelling. There was no evidence for occupation deposits either within or adjacent to the structure. Its excavation has provided significant evidence for the elaborate processes associated with the abandonment of Bronze Age buildings in Cornwall. A wall of quartz stones blocked the entrance. The interior was filled by what has been interpreted as a midden deposit and a ring of quartz stones was placed around the edge of the infilled hollow. On completion of the abandonment process the site may have had the appearance of a small kerbed cairn. Importantly, the artefactual assemblage demonstrates evidence for the structured deposition of artefacts. In particular, fragments of a single Trevisker urn were recovered from a primary context, which was sealed behind the wall of the structure, and from the final infill deposit, providing evidence for the long-term curation ceramics during the Bronze Age in Cornwall.

The excavation of the Bronze Age roundhouses at Trevilson and Callestick have raised important questions about the origins of the abandonment process. Many of the features associated with the closure of these sites (for example the use of quartz and the curation of artefacts) seem to have been drawn from earlier Bronze Age traditions associated with barrow construction. The picture, which is emerging from the excavated evidence, indicates that the Later Bronze Age in Cornwall contained elements of continuity, as well as those of profound change.

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References

APSIMON, A.M. & E. GREENFIELD. 1972. The excavation of the Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement at Trevisker Round, St Eval, Cornwall, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 38: 302-81.

JONES, A. Forthcoming. Excavation of a Later Bronze Age structure at Callestick.

LINFORD, N. 1997. Callestick Veor, Cornwall, Report on Geophysical Survey. English Heritage Ancient Monuments Laboratory Report 81/97.

NOWAKOWSKI, J. 1991. Trethellan Farm, Newquay: excavations of a lowland Bronze Age settlement and Iron Age cemetery, Cornish Archaeology 30: 5-242.

ANDY M. JONES & SEAN TAYLOR *

* Planning, Transportation and Estates, Cornwall County Council, Kennall Building, Old County Hall, Truro TR1 3AY, England. andjones@cornwall.gov.uk