Archaeology and Environment of a Bronze Age Cairn and Prehistoric and Romano-British Field System at Chysauster, Gulval, near Penzance, Cornwall

The Celtic field research programme of Groningen University involves research excavations of Dutch Celtic fields or raatakkers: embanked field plots thought to date to the Iron Age (c. 800 cal bc–12 bc). In this paper, detailed attention is given to (a) the palaeoecology of raatakkers; (b) the relationship between habitation and agriculture in such systems; and (c) their dating and use-life. Counter-intuitively, it is argued that the macro-remains from crops such as barley, wheat, millet, and flax recovered from Celtic field banks represent a non-local (settlement) signal rather than document local agricultural regimes. Palynological approaches, in which a more local signal can be preserved but which also show evidence for details of the agricultural regime such as manuring strategies and fallow cycles, are argued to be more appropriate avenues to study local agricultural strategies. A discussion of the relations between habitation and agriculture shows that house sites uncovered within Dutch Celtic fields are almost invariably placed in positions partly overlapping banks. Moreover, in most cases such settlement traces appear to date to the Middle or Late Iron Age, raising the question of where the initial farmers of the Celtic fields lived, as the communities planning and first using these Celtic fields probably pre-dated the Iron Age. A critical review of existing dates and discussion of new OSL and AMS dates has shown that bank construction of Dutch Celtic fields started around the 13th–10th centuries cal bc and continued into the Roman era. The chronostratigraphies preserved in the banks testify to a sustainable agricultural regime of unprecedented time-depth: centuries of continued use make the system employing raatakkers the most enduring and stable form of farming known in the history of the Netherlands.

Section: Palaeoeconomymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fields that Outlived the Celts: The Use-histories of Later Prehistoric Field Systems (Celtic Fields orRaatakkers) in the Netherlands

Arnoldussen

2018

“…These sites have a number of shared characteristics (Table 3), which range from their construction method to their contents. Multiple partial cremation burials are common in Cornwall, for example at Chysauster, Stannon Cairn 3, and Trelowthas (Harris et al 1984;Smith 1996; Nowakowski forthcoming) but, from the available descriptions, the amount of bone in the Harlyn Bay deposits appears unusually high and contrasts with north Cornish barrow groups where, often, very small quantities are found (see Christie 1988;Jones 2005, chap. 5).…”

Section: The Local Context Of the Complexmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Beach: New Discoveries at Harlyn Bay, Cornwall

Jones¹,

Marley

Quinnell

et al. 2011

In 1990 a stone covered pit containing a Trevisker Ware vessel was found 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 in the range 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 major 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 also assesses the importance of Early Bronze Age burials around Harlyn Bay which have produced an unusually wide range of artefacts.

“…However, given that the small passage tomb, Broadsands, in south Devon has recently been dated to the Early Neolithic (Schulting & Sheridan forthcoming) and passage tombs dating to 3rd and 4th millennia cal BC are found widely around Atlantic Europe (Smith & Lynch 1987;Scarre et al 2003;Sheridan 2003;Cummings & Whittle 2004;Patton 1993, 179-83), possible early origins for this group should not be dismissed out of hand. Similarly, the trend for entrances to face towards the south-eastern part of the horizon is found in many passage tombs (Bradley & Phillips 2008;Burl 1983, 24-5;Bergh 1995, 124-5), which could be taken to be indicative of a shared concern with the midwinter sky.…”

Section: Entrance Gravesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dates are of interest because they indicate that activity at the site was contemporary with that at the wide variety of funerary and ceremonial monuments, cairns, multiple burial cairns, and round barrows typical of the Early Bronze Age in the area (Bonnington 1999;Borlase 1872;Smith 1996;Jones 2005, chap. 3).…”

Section: Entrance Gravesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bosiliack and a Reconsideration of Entrance Graves

Jones¹,

Thomas²,

Quinnell³

et al. 2010

In 1984 the entrance grave at Bosiliack, Cornwall, was excavated by Charles Thomas on behalf of the Institute of Cornish Studies. It was a comparatively small example, approximately 5 m in diameter encircled by a substantial kerb. A deposit of cremated bone was found within the chamber accompanied by sherds of plain pottery from three vessels. Two radiocarbon determinations were obtained on the cremated bone. The dates were almost identical, falling between 1690 and 1500 cal bc.Because Bosiliack is the only entrance grave in Cornwall to have been excavated to modern standards, and to have had any analyses undertaken on the contents of its chamber, it is significant to the study of small chambered tombs elsewhere. This paper outlines the results from the excavations before moving on to a discussion of the use of monument and a consideration of its possible affinities with monuments elsewhere.