Cornish Archaeology 3939-40

including prehistoric and Roman pottery and ironwork

Exploration of the human experience of caves in Cornwall, including how they have been used and perceived, and the relationship of people with wilderness and the natural world. It includes the role of caves as habitations and shelters, as hiding places; their association with hunters, miners and smugglers; caves as perceived by visitors such as tourists or antiquarians; as places of folklore and myth, and as cult sites. Includes a gazetteer of caves.

During the course of archaeological fieldwork along the De Lank water pipeline a number of boundaries of probable later prehistoric and medieval origin were recorded in section, and a peat deposit was identified on the northern side of the De Lank River below a field system which had been identified as having prehistoric origins and which had been used throughout the medieval period. The study of the boundaries and the radiocarbon dating and analysis of the peat deposit provided information about changes to the landscape over the millennia and the impact of nearby prehistoric and medieval settlement on the immediate locale. A radiocarbon date of 1880--1630 cal BC was obtained from the base of the peat. The results from the pollen analysis indicate that although there was some evidence for limited cereal cultivation and tree coverage, grassland has been the dominant environment since the Bronze Age. It is therefore probable that primary pastoral agricultural practices, rather than cultivation, were associated with the Middle Bronze Age settlements which are found in the vicinity.

Report on flint and chert artefacts recovered during a field walking scheme in 1994. A total of 1,115 items were found in fields to the south of Clicker Tor, with a concentration in the north-western field indicating a working site dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Non-flint items included a whetstone or polisher and a piece of burnt bone. No pottery from the period was observed.

brief descriptions of the main developments with which the Unit has been involved

The author comments on the Corpus, and on its supplement (see biab ref. 2003/1107), before discussing in detail an inscribed gate-post at Trevalgan farm, parish of St Ives (listed by Okasha in her supplement), and giving an account of a recent discovery of an inscribed boulder at St Just in Penwith.