Cornish Archaeology 4141--42 (42)

Report on a programme of archaeological fieldwork carried out in 1999 following the discovery of an Iron Age sword in a Porth Cressa-type cist grave on Bryher, Isles of Scilly. Within the cist were the fragmentary remains of a crouched human skeleton. In addition to the sword, which survived within a bronze scabbard, the grave goods included a mirror, shield fittings, a sword belt ring, a brooch and a spiral ring (all of copper alloy), together with a shattered tin object. There was also evidence for the grave having contained a sheepskin or fleece and woven textile incorporating goat and other animal hairs. This is the only known Iron Age grave to contain both a sword and a mirror. Analysis of skeletal material showed that the buried individual was about 25 years of age, although preservation was too poor to determine the person's sex. Radiocarbon dating of a bone fragment gave calibrated date ranges from 200--45 cal BC, and the metalwork typology narrows this range to the first half of the first century BC. The dates indicate that the Bryher mirror is the earliest known British decorated bronze mirror. The discovery of a second cist (not excavated) a few metres to the south west suggests the possibility of a cist cemetery, lying within an ancient terraced field system that appears to be broadly contemporary. Further evaluation trenching revealed Iron Age -- Romano-British settlement remains at the southern end of the field, where a stone-walled building contained a stone-lined drain. After abandonment the building was infilled with domestic rubbish. Other contemporaneous settlement remains were uncovered in a field to the east. Stratigraphic and ceramic evidence indicates a break in occupation between the second century AD and the post-Roman period. Limpet middens, visible on the ploughed surface of the cist field and the field to the west, contained E ware, indicating renewed activity in the area centred on the seventh century AD. Includes separately authored reports on

Report on archaeological recording carried out in 2001 at Althea Library, 27 High Street, Padstow. Seventeen graves were exposed, arranged in two rows. All were lined and capped with slate, and aligned broadly east-west. Most had been disturbed. Three graves were excavated and the skeletons removed for analysis. Radiocarbon determinations indicate an eighth- or ninth-century date for the cemetery. The investigations also produced a small but significant pottery assemblage including a sherd of Hamwic fabric 127 and a sherd of a rare class of micaceous pottery from northwest France. Includes separately authored reports on

A group of ten pits was recorded to the north of Roche Rock during archaeological fieldwork at Tregarrick Farm, Roche. The pits were found to contain structured deposits of Neolithic date, which included pottery, flints, a small saddle quern and charred hazelnuts. Radiocarbon determinations ranging over the period 3790--3370 cal BC were obtained from six of the pits, suggesting that the site was in use over several centuries. Analysis of charred environmental material indicated that oak and hazel woodland with some clearings existed nearby. It is suggested that the pits were the result of ritualized activity associated with seasonal gatherings close to a prominent landscape feature. The investigation has given a rare insight into Early Neolithic activity in lowland Cornwall and confirms the significance of Roche Rock as an important place in the landscape several millennia before the construction of the fifteenth-century chapel. Includes separately authored reports on

Comments on four Late Iron Age items recently reported under the Portable Antiquities Scheme, all of which, the author suggests, either depict or are associated with horses and/or chariots. The items include a gold stater; a cast copper-alloy `cheekpiece'; a decorated linch-pin head; and a decorated scabbard mount.

comments on the television programme Extreme Archaeology

the author responds to negative comments made during the symposium

Numerous brief summaries of archaeological fieldwork carried out by the Historic Environment Service in Cornwall between 2000 and 2002.