Cornwall during the Iron Age and - Cornwall Archaeological Society

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Lizard, and distinguished this as Group I, while other decoratively similar pottery had petrology which indicated origins in Devon and in Somerset. The Cam Euny material shows a gradual change from presumably local granitic fabrics to gabbroic wares, with the majority of the South-Western Decorated pottery being gabbroic. South-Western Decorated pottery from other sites in West Penwith, such as Bodrifty, appears to be gabbroic, Peacock's Group I. Further east in Cornwall, South-Western Decorated pottery is exclusively of gabbroic fabric, even at Castle Dore, or at Killibury 50 km from the suggested source. Occasional sherds are found in Devon. Despite an intensive programme of field walking by the Cornwall Archaeological Society (CAS) between 1978 and 1983, no evidence of pottery manufacture in the gabbroic area has been identified (CAS Newsletters, Nos 28-40). However, the area produced more gabbroic sherds as surface finds than the Kenwyn valley north of Truro which was walked in 1983-4 (CAS Newsletters, Nos 43-44). If the pottery was clampfired, manufacture would leave little trace, particularly as overfired or continually reheated sherds tend to crumble (pers.comm. on material from Trethurgy). For the Neolithic gabbroic pottery found at Cam Brea, it has recently been suggested that appropriate suites of minerals could be found in the Camborne area (Mercer, 1981, 179). The location of the production centre(s) is unlikely to be finally settled until either the sites themselves are found, or a great deal more detailed petrological work is done, both on potential source areas and on possible variations within the gabbroic fabric. For the present, however, it appears a reasonable hypothesis that, during the Later Iron Age, pottery manufacture gradually became the exclusive preserve of groups resident on the Lizard and that gabbroic pottery was distributed through exchange networks which became more sophisticated and extensive towards the end of the Iron Age. The Iron Age and Roman periods in Cornwall have been covered by two general studies of the region (Fox 1964, 2nd ed. 1973; Pearce, 1981). A more detailed study by Thomas (1966) entitled 'The Character and Origins of Roman Dumnonia' covered settlement patterns and emphasised the cultural poverty of Dumnonia compared to other areas of southern Britain. Hillforts have been discussed by Forde-Johnson (1976, 30-5). More recently, an analysis of enclosed and defended settlements by Johnson and Rose (1982) provided a comprehensive summary of the evidence to date, made graphic with 290 plans. Fox had demonstrated (1952) that multivallate hillforts with close-spaced ramparts were virtually absent from the South West, and that multiple enclosure sites with wide-spaced ramparts occurred instead. She discussed the multiple enclosure sites further in 1958 (Fox, 1961), emphasising the wide variety both in plan and in geographical location, a variety further brought out by Johnson and Rose (1982). Multiple enclosure forts occur throughout Devon and Cornwall and in South Wales, with occasional examples elsewhere. Fox (1961, 46) suggested that the form was related to the needs of a pastoral, principally cattle rearing, economy. No convincing alternative has yet been suggested, and no research design has been carried out to test this hypothesis. By 1958, excavations at Tregeare Rounds, Castle Dore and Chun Castle, together with sites in Devon, had all produced pottery of the South-Western Decorated type. A Later Iron Age dating for multiple-enclosure hillforts has been confirmed by excavations at Killibury (Miles et al, 1977) and at Castle-an-Dinas, St Columb Major (Wailes, 1963), although the final report on the latter site is still awaited. With the exception of Cam Brea (Mercer, 1981), no other non-coastal hillfort has been excavated in the last 25 years. At Cam Brea, while hut cicles were undoubtedly occupied during the Later Iron Age, the defences were tentatively assigned to the Neolithic period. The work at Killibury, although on a small scale, was valuable in demonstrating dense occupation in the inner enclosure, with 13 possible structural phases between the 4th and 1st centuries BC/AD, while occupation in the outer 114
enclosure was apparently scantier. The 1936-37 excavations at Castle Dore (Radford, 1951) had shown permanent timber structures, perhaps with some degree of planned layout, but the features were sparse compared to the density at Killibury. This comparative sparsity, together with other evidence, suggests that Castle Dore had phases of disuse (Quinnell and Harris, 1985). Both Killibury and Castle Dore have four-post structures, probably grain storage units, of a type that was not previously thought to occur in Cornwall. There is another of Roman date at Trethurgy (Quinnell, forthcoming). Hillforts as permanently occupied centres — albeit deserted for periods as local patterns of power changed — and hillforts with a degree of interior planning, incorporating both round timber houses and rectangular storage units, are concepts consistent with our present understanding of these monuments in Britain as a whole (Cunliffe, 1984). Cliff castles — fortified promontories — have tended to be regarded as a special Cornish feature, perhaps initiated by Breton immigrants (Cotton, 1959; Thomas, 1966, 78). A recent study by Lamb (1980, Fig 1) has emphasised that this hillfort variant occurs both in the British Isles and in northern France wherever the geography of the coast line is suitable. Maen Castle and Trevelgue have been mentioned above as occupied during the Earlier Iron Age. Trevelgue certainly continued in the Later Iron Age as well, and has produced a large collection of both Earlier Iron Age and South-Western Decorated pottery but very little Cordoned Ware and none that need be of pre-Roman date. It has the most complex defences of any Cornish cliff castle, yet its floruit appears to have been before c. 50 BC. CAS excavations at The Rumps, St Minver (Brooks, 1974) between 1963 and 67 showed occupation associated with South-Western Decorated pottery (including rouletted sherds) and Cordoned Ware, with a potential date range from the 4th century BC to the 1st century AD. The defences at The Rumps had undergone substantial alteration during this period, and round timber houses similar to those in inland hillforts and settlements were identified. In 1983, work at Penhale cliff castle, Perranzabuloe (Smith, 1984) yielded a single round house and South-Western Decorated pottery within a large excavated area; radiocarbon dates are awaited. Inconvenient though these fortified promontory sites may appear to modern eyes, it is now well established that they were permanent settlements of varying duration, which in excavated detail may not differ from inland hillforts. Misty ideas of temporary refuges have to be discounted, while their wide date-range shows that they cannot be explained as the product of one historical event, such as immigrant Veneti fleeing the Roman conquest of Gaul. This long chronological range and the wide variation of their defences suggest that the relationship of their inhabitants to those of nearby settlements may have taken different forms during the Iron Age. Small univallate enclosures, known in Cornwall as 'rounds', were scarcely recognized or understood in 1958 (Dudley, 1958). They may lie on hillslopes, or other not obviously defensible positions; their ditches tend to be shallow, 1.5 to 2m deep (though there are exceptions) and their entrances are simple without inturns. The parish check-list programme of the CAS has greatly increased the numbers known. Thomas, in the first general published discussion on rounds (1966, 88), suggested a potential total of 750 for Devon and Cornwall. This figure is likely to be an underestimate as aerial photography is now producing new sites (Johnson and Rose 1982; Griffith, 1985). Johnson and Rose have shown that rounds have considerable complexity and variation in plan and can exist in close proximity, for example the pair on the slopes of Tregonning Hill below Castle Pencaire. About' fifteen Cornish rounds have now been excavated to a greater or lesser (minimal) extent and their occupation ranges in date from the Later Iron Age to c. AD 600. The interior of Threemilestone, near Truro, was about three quarters excavated and is the only round so far demonstrated to have 115
Page 1 and 2: CORNISH ARCHAEOLOGY No. 25 (1986) 5
Page 3: pottery from Trevelgue confirms the
Page 7 and 8: een occupied entirely within the La
Page 9 and 10: 420±70 be (HAR —238) suggested a
Page 11 and 12: it is only reasonable to accept tha
Page 13 and 14: whose ancestors had occupied hillfo
Page 15 and 16: AL •r, .4 •eakitiocto dp° •
Page 17 and 18: Fig 5 Trethurgy Round Period 2 c. A
Page 19 and 20: Exeter in the 3rd and 4th centuries
Page 21 and 22: The question of Late Bronze Age and
Page 23 and 24: McAvoy, F., 1980. 'Excavations of a

Cornwall during the Iron Age and - Cornwall Archaeological Society

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