On the Beach: New Discoveries at Harlyn Bay, Cornwall

Proceedings of the prehistoric society , 2011

In 1990 a stone covered pit containing a Trevisker Ware vessel was eroding from the cliffs at Harlyn Bay and excavated. The vessel contained cremated bone from several individuals with some animal bone, quartz pebbles and a small bronze pendant. A radiocarbon date on the cremated bone fell between 2120-1880 cal BC and is a valuable addition to the small number of securely dated Early Bronze Age burials in Cornwall with metalwork associations. This early date also makes a contribution to the debate on the sequence of Trevisker Ware as the vessel, of gabbroic clay, has a band of incised chevron decoration. Lipid residue analysis showed traces of ruminant dairy fat. This paper examines the significance of unmounded burial sites in Cornwall and ssesses the importance of Early Bronze Age burials around Harlyn Bay which have produced an unusually wide range of artefacts.

Cornish |Archaeology, 2002

Cornish Archaeology , 2015

Following a severe winter storm in March 2014, human remains were reported eroding from the cliffs at Harlyn Bay. Cornwall Archaeological Unit archaeologists recorded the exposed section and excavated the remains of an inhumation burial preserved in the sandy conditions within the cist. The cist was set within a larger pit, which contained a large quartz-rich stone. No artefacts were present but analysis of the skeleton revealed that it was a young female aged between 26 and 35. A sample of bone from the burial produced a radiocarbon determination which fell towards the end of the third millennium cal BC, 2284–2038 cal BC, the earliest Bronze Age inhumation burial to be found in Cornwall. This paper considers the results from the radiocarbon dating and discusses the wider context of the burial in relation to others recorded in Harlyn Bay and along the north Cornish coast.

Cornish Archaeology, 2015

In December 2013 archaeological investigations were carried out at Quintrell Downs, near a large cropmark enclosure at Manuels, in advance of the construction of a housing estate. A few small pits were uncovered and were notable for containing selected stones. One pit contained some probable cremated human bone, which gave a radiocarbon determination in the period 997–844 cal BC. This paper considers the wider context of the pit and its significance and also discusses the undated pits, which are also likely to have prehistoric origins.

2014

Cornish Archaeology 52, 2013

In September 2011 archaeological investigations were carried out on a Bronze Age settlement at Bosiliack, near Lanyon in West Penwith. The project was undertaken to gain further information by excavating one of the roundhouses and to ascertain the effects of bracken rhizomes upon buried archaeological deposits. During the course of the project, eight 1m square test pits and a small structure, house 3, were excavated. Excavation revealed the substantial impact of bracken but also led to the recovery of Middle Bronze Age pottery which suggests a second millennium cal BC date for the roundhouse. Later activity dating to the Middle Iron Age was revealed by two radiocarbon determinations. In 1984 two roundhouses and an Early Bronze Age entrance grave were investigated in the same area. These sites have been published elsewhere. However, a summary is included in this paper to provide a wider context for the 2011 excavations and to make the results more widely available.

Cornish Archaeology , 1991

A full account of the discovery and excavations in 1987 of a Bronze Age settlement dating from the 15th to 13th centuries BCE and a mid to late Iron Age cemetery found on the slopes of the Gannel estuary, Newquay, Cornwall. The site was located on a terrace and buried under a massive blanket of collouvium which ensured comprehensive concealment and exceptional preservation of 7 roundhouses, edges of fields, material culture and palaeo-environmental data. The largest volume of distinctive Trevisker ware pottery was found. Human remains were less well preserved but the density of Iron Age graves - some bodies buried with brooches - reveals a community cemetery who occupied this location some 900 years later. Trethellan Farm is one of the most comprehensive excavations of a Bronze Age lowland settlement in south west Britain with significant insights and evidence for building histories and planned abandonment.

Cornish Archaeology, 2014

In April 2013 archaeological investigations were carried out at Tresavean, near Lanner in advance of the construction of a housing estate. Ten pits were uncovered, a number of which had charcoal-rich fills. Although no artefacts were recovered, post-excavation analysis revealed that two of the pits contained cremated bone which is likely to be human. Three samples were s_ubmitted for radiocarbon dating and these produced determinations which fell in the period 1600-1400 cal BC, at the transition between the Early and Middle Bronze Age. This paper discusses the wider context of the pits and offers an interpretation for their function.

Cornish Archaeology , 2011

An overview of the period 4000 cal BC to 1000cal BC - based on recent work

Summary This report presents the results of a desk-based assessment, geophysical survey and archaeological evaluation carried out adjacent to Winnianton Farm and Gunwalloe Church, Gunwalloe Parish, Cornwall. This work was undertaken by Dr Imogen Wood, on behalf of the National Trust, and in collaboration with local and regional archaeological groups, members of the local community and The University of Exeter, which has successfully brought people together achieving a high level of public engagement. This work formed part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) -funded ‘Unlocking Our Coastal Heritage’ project concerning archaeological sites threated by coastal erosion along the south-west coast path. The multi-period site at Gunwalloe, located on the western coast of the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, has been a locus firstly for burial and later for settlement for over 3000 years. This is a rapidly-eroding section of coastline, and the results of the evaluation have not only answered the many questions raised over the past century, but also recorded a visibly receding archaeological resource. Six Trenches were opened across the coastal strip: five within a known early-medieval settlement, and one across the ramparts of a suspected promontory fort. The investigation of the Scheduled promontory fort revealed a complex stratigraphical sequence: a Middle Bronze Age cist burial unique in Cornwall overlain by Late Bronze Age midden, indicating the presence of a previously unknown settlement. This was buried beneath an Iron Age rampart defining a defended enclosed space that was in use until the post-Roman period when it appears to have been destroyed by fire. The accumulation of material within the interior of the bank suggests it was continuously occupied, and that the inhabitants had contacts beyond Cornwall, with the discovery of an Iron Age Kimmeridge shale bracelet fragment and a sherd of Roman Oxfordshire colour-coated ware. The early medieval settlement in the sand dunes has now been firmly dated to the 8th to 12th centuries. The evaluation uncovered evidence for middens, working-surfaces and a sub-rectangular sunken-featured building, and revealed unique evidence of daily life during this period and of how the settlement changed over time. What was once a long-lived rural settlement and early Christian community transformed into an important Royal Hundredral manor site. The sunken-featured rectangular house, with its revetted clay-bonded stone walls and a central hearth dating to the 10-11th century, is the first of its kind to be encountered in Cornwall. The middens have revealed detailed faunal evidence of changes in diet over time, changes which are also reflected in the extensive ceramic assemblage. The preservation of animal bone was very good, due to the calcareous shell sand, and the fish bones recovered suggest that the inhabitants exploited the marine resources as well as farming the land and keeping animals. The evaluation also determined that the initial formation of the dunes took place in the Early Bronze Age. An extensive programme of paleoenvironmental analyses was undertaken, including: soil micro-morphology and geochemistry, phytolith analysis, environmental profiles through mollusc analysis, charcoal species identification and radiocarbon dating. The results have examined the internal processes involved within middens, found evidence for cereal processing inside the house and the use of water reeds, and outlined the changes in the wider environmental from scrubland with wooded areas to grassland more conducive to agriculture.