Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T21:41:06.590Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Monuments and Memories Set in Stone: a Cornish Bronze Age Ceremonial Complex in its Landscape (on Stannon Down)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Andy M. Jones
Affiliation:
Historic Environment Service, Kennall Building, Old County Hall, Truro TR1 3AY, UK

Abstract

Three seasons of archaeological fieldwork were carried out in 1998–2000 by Cornwall Archaeological Un within the Imerys Stannon China Clay Works, Bodmin Moor. The first two seasons involved the excavation of an Early Bronze Age cairn group and Middle Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age settlement activity. The third season on the Northern Downs involved the evaluation a number of cairns, field systems, and palaeoenvironmental sites.

The cairn group consisted of three earlier Bronze Age ring-cairns and two ‘tailed’ cairns. One ring-cairn continued to be used as a ceremonial monument in the Middle Bronze Age and was reused during the Iron Age as a dwelling. An artefact assemblage including Bronze and Iron Age pottery and stonework was recovered. Two prehistoric beads one of faience, the other of amber, were also found.

Ten Bronze Age radiocarbon determinations spanning 2490–1120 cal BC and two Iron Age determinations (370–40 cal BC) were obtained from three of the cairns. Two pollen columns on the Northern Downs were also dated. Significantly, a series of eight determinations was obtained from a single column, which provided environmental information from the Mesolithic through to the early medieval period. The radiocarbon dating showed that impact on the vegetation of the Down commenced during the Neolithic, with larger-scale clearance during the Bronze Age. Widespread open grassland was established by the Middle Bronze Age.

It is suggested here that use of space within the cairn group was structured and that the cairns formed a monument complex which was part of a wider landscape cosmology, involving groupings of particular monument types and the referencing of rocky outcrops and tors.

The investigations on Stannon Down were important as an opportunity to study an Early Bronze Age ceremonial landscape and reconsider how later Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age peoples on Bodmin Moor might have engaged with and interpreted the materiality of earlier prehistoric monuments.

Résumé

Trois saisons de prospection archéologique ont été entreprises en 1998–2000 par l'unité archéologique de Cornouailles à l'intérieur de l'atelier de poterie d'Imeris Stannon, à Bodmin Moor. Les deux premières saisons comprirent la fouille d'un groupe de cairns du début de l'âge du bronze et d'industries d'occupation de l'âge du bronze et de l'âge du fer moyens. La troisième saison sur les collines des Northern Downs comporta l'évaluation d'un certain nombre de cairns, de systèmes de champs et de sites paléo-environnementaux.

Le groupe de cairns consistait en trois cairns en anneaux du début de l'âge du bronze et deux cairns ‘à queue’. Un des cairns en anneau continua à être utilisé comme monument cérémoniel à l'âge du bronze moyen et fut réutilisé comme habitation pendant l'âge du fer. Un assemblage d'objets manufacturés comprenant de la poterie et de la maçonnerie y fut retrouvé. On découvrit également deux perles préhistoriques, l'une en faïence, l'autre d'ambre.

A partir de trois de ces cairns, on obtint dix déterminations au carbone 14 de l'âge du bronze couvrant la période 2490–1120 cal av.J.-C. et deux déterminations de l'âge du fer (370–40cal av. J.-C). Deux colonnes de pollen sur les Northern Downs furent aussi datées. Trait significatif, on obtint une série de huit déterminations d'une seule colonne, ce qui nous fournit des renseignements sur un environnement allant du mésolithique jusqu'au début de la période médiévale. La datation au carbone 14 a montré que l'impact sur la végétation du Down avait commencé pendant le néolithique, avec un défrichement sur une plus grande échelle pendant l'âge du bronze. De vastes herbages ouverts étaient établis dès l'âge du bronze moyen.

On suggère ici que l'utilisation de l'espace à l'intérieur du groupe de cairns était structurée et que les cairns formaient un complexe monumental qui faisait partie d'une plus vaste cosmologie du paysage, qui comportait le groupement de certains types particuliers de monuments ‘et des références aux affleurements rocheux et aux ‘tors’.

Les recherches sur Stannon Down étaient importantes parce qu'elles offraient l'occasion d'étudier un paysage cérémoniel de l'âge du bronze ancien et de reconsidérer comment les peuples de la fin de l'âge du bronze moyen et de l'âge du fer sur Bodmin Moor avaient pu s'implquer avec, et interpréter, la matérialité des monuments préhistoriques antérieurs.

Zusammenfassung

Zwischen 1998–2000 wurden drei archäologische Feldkampagnen von der Cornwall Archäologische Einheit im Imerys Stannon Kaolin Werk in Bodmin Moor durchgeführt. Die ersten beiden Kampagnen umfassten die Ausgrabung einer frühbronzezeitlichen Steinhügelgruppe und von mittelbronze- und mitteleisenzeitlichen Siedlungsresten. In der dritten Kampagne wurde in den nördlichen Downs eine Reihe von Steinhügeln, Feldsystemen und Paläo-Umwelt-Fundstellen ausgewertet. Die Steinhügelgruppe umfasste drei frühbronzezeitliche Steinringe und zwei ringelschwanzförmige Steinhügel. Ein Steinring wurde in der Mittleren Bronzezeit als Kultmonument und während der Eisenzeit als Behausung benutzt. Unter dem entdeckten archäologischen Material fanden sich bronze- und eisenzeitliche Keramik und Mauerwerk, und zwei vorgeschichtliche Perlen aus Fayence und Bernstein. Von drei der Steinhaufen liegen 10 bronzezeitliche (2490–1120 cal BC) und zwei eisenzeitliche (370–40 cal BC) Radiokarbondatierungen vor. Zusätzlich wurden zwei Pollenanalysen von den nördlichen Downs datiert. Eine Serie von 8 Bestimmungen wurde dabei von einer Analyse genommen, die paläo-ökologische Informationen vom Mesolithikum bis zum Frühen Mittelalter lieferten. Die Radiokarbondatierung konnte zeigen, dass die Auswirkung auf die Vegetation in den Downs erst während des Neolithikums begann und sich mit großflächigeren Rodungen in der Bronzezeit fortsetzte. Weites offenes Weideland wurde erst mit der Mittleren Bronzezeit geschaffen. Es wird in diesem Beitrag vorgeschlagen, dass die Nutzung der Flächen innerhalb der Steinhügelgruppen strukturiert war, und dass die Steinhügel ein komplexes Monument bildeten, das sowohl als Bestandteil einer größeren Landschaftskosmologie anzusehen ist, die sowohl Gruppierungen von besonderen Monumenttypen als auch Felsausbisse und Felstürme mit umfasste. Die Arbeiten in den Stannon Downs waren nicht nur wichtig eine frühbronzezeitliche Kultlandschaft zu untersuchen, sondern auch Fragen nachzugehen, wie z.B. in Bodmin Moor die Menschen in der Mittleren Bronzezeit und Eisenzeit damit umgingen und wie sie die Materialität früherer Menschen interpretiert haben.

Résumen

La Unidad Arqueológica de Corwall desarrolló tres temporadas de trabajo de campo entre 1998–2000 dentro de las Imerys Stannon China Clay Works, en Bodmin Moor. Las dos primeras temporadas se dedicaron a la excavación de un grupo de túmulos de piedra de la Primera Edad de Bronce y actividades domésticas de la Edad del Bronce Media y de la Edad del Hierro Media. La tercera temporada en los Northern Downs se dedicó a la evaluación de varios túmulos de piedra, sistemas de campos, y yacimientos medio-ambientales.

El grupo de túmulos de piedra estaba compuesto por tres túmulos de tipo anillo y dos túmulos “con cola” de la primera Edad del Bronce. Uno de los túmulos tipo anillo continuó en uso como monumento ceremonial hasta la Edad del Bronce Media, siendo después re-utilizado como vivienda en la Edad del Hierro. El alijo de artefactos recuperado incluye cerámica de la Edad del Bronce y Edad del Hierro y piedra trabajada. También se encontraron dos cuentas, una de pasta vitrea, la otra de ámbar.

De tres de los túmulos de piedra se obtuvieron diez dataciones al Carbono-14 de la Edad del Bronce con fechas entre 2490–1120 cal BC y dos de la Edad del Hierro (370–40 cal BC). Dos columnas de polen procedentes de los Northern Downs fueron también datadas. Es significativo que una serie de ocho dataciones se obtuvo solamente de una de las columnas, lo que aportó información medioambiental desde el Mesolítico hasta el comienzo del periodo medieval. La datación al Carbono-14 reveló que el impacto humano en la vegetación del Down comenzó durante el Neolítico, con un proceso de deforestación más intenso durante la Edad del Bronce. En la Edad del Bronce Media los prados de hierba se habían ya establecido extensamente.

Este trabajo sugiere que el uso del espacio dentro del grupo de túmulos estaba estructurado y que los túmulos de piedra formaban un complejo monumental que era parte de una cosmología del paisaje más extensa, que incluía agrupaciones de ciertos tipos de monumento y referencias a afloramientos y promontorios rocosos.

Las investigaciones en Stannon Down son importantes porque permiten estudiar un paisaje ceremonial de la Primera Edad del Bronce y reconsiderar cómo los posteriores habitantes de Bodmin Moor durante la Edad del Bronce Media y la Edad del Hierro pueden haberse relacionado con, e interpretado, la materialidad de los monumentos prehistóricos más antiguos.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Austin, P.A. 2000. The emperor's new garden: woodland, trees and people. In Fairbairn, A. (ed.), Plants in Neolithic Britain and Beyond, 6378. Oxford: OxbowCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balaam, N.D., Smith, K. & Wainwright, G. 1982. The Shaugh Moor Project: Fourth Report – environment, context and conclusion. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 48, 203–78Google Scholar
Barnatt, J. 1982. Prehistoric Cornwall – The Ceremonial Monuments. Wellinborough: TurnstoneGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J. 1994. Fragments From Antiquity. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J., Bradley, R. & Green, M. 1991. Landscape, Monuments and Society. Cambridge: University PressGoogle Scholar
Bender, B., Hamilton, S. & Tilley, C. 1997. Leskernick: stone worlds; alternative narratives; nested landscapes. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 63, 147–78Google Scholar
Bevan, B. 1997. Bounding the landscape: place and identity during the Yorkshire Wolds Iron Age. In Gwilt, A. & Haselgrove, C. (eds), Reconstructing Iron Age Societies, 181–90. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1998a. Ruined buildings, ruined stones: enclosures, tombs and natural places in the Neolithic of south-west England. World Archaeology 30, 1322Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1998b. The Significance of Monuments. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 2000. An Archaeology of Natural Places. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 2002. The Past in Prehistoric Societies. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 2003a. A Life Less ordinary: the ritualization of the domestic sphere in later prehistoric Europe. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 13(1), 523CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 2003b. Neolithic expectations. In Armit, I., Murphy, E., Nelis, E. & Simpson, D. (eds), Neolithic Settlement in Ireland and Western Britain, 218–22. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy. Radiocarbon 36, 425–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1998. Probability and dating. Radiocarbon 40, 461–74Google Scholar
Brophy, K. 1998. Cursus monuments and bank barrows of Tayside and Fife. In Barclay, C.J. & Maxwell, G.S., The Cleaven Dyke and Littleour, Monuments in the Neolithic of Tayside, 92108. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of ScotlandGoogle Scholar
Brück, J. 2000. Settlement, landscape and social identity: the Early–Middle Bronze Age transition in Wessex, Sussex and the Thames Valley. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 19(3), 273301Google Scholar
Burgess, C. 1980. The Age of Stonehenge. London: DentGoogle Scholar
Butler, J. 1997. Dartmoor Atlas of Antiquities Volume 5. Tiverton: Devon BooksGoogle Scholar
Campbell, G. & Straker, V. 2003. Prehistoric crop husbandry and plant use in southern England: development and regionality. In Robson Brown, K.A. (ed.), Archaeological Sciences 1999 Proceedings of the Archaeological Sciences Conference, University of Bristol 1999, 1430. Oxford: British Archaeological Report SllllGoogle Scholar
Clarke, B.B. 1971. Quaternary features of Porth Mear Cove, North Cornwall. Cornish Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall 20(4), 275–85Google Scholar
Christie, P. 1985. Barrows on the north Cornish coast: wartime excavations by C.K. Croft Andrew. Cornish Archaeology 24, 23122Google Scholar
Christie, P. 1988. A barrow cemetery on Davidstow Moor, Cornwall: wartime excavations by C.K. Croft Andrew. Cornish Archaeology 27, 27169Google Scholar
Coles, B. & Coles, J. 1986. Sweet Track to Glastonbury. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Cummings, V. & Fowler, C. 2004. The Neolithic of the Irish Sea, Materiality and Traditions of Practice. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Cummings, V. & Whittle, A. 2003. Tombs with a view: landscape, monuments and trees. Antiquity 296, 255–66Google Scholar
Cummings, V. & Whittle, A. 2004. Places of Special Virtue: megaliths in the Neolithic landscapes of Wales. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Darvill, T. 2004. Long Barrows of the Cotswolds. Stroud: TempusGoogle Scholar
Ferrell, G. 1997. Space and society in the Iron Age of north-east England. In Gwilt, A. & Haselgrove, C. (eds), Reconstructing Iron Age Societies, 228–38. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Fleming, A. 1988. The Dartmoor Reaves. London: BatsfordGoogle Scholar
Fox, A. 1954. Excavations at Kestor. Report Transactions of the Devonshire Association 86, 2162Google Scholar
Fox, A. 1964. South West England. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Fyfe, R.M., Brown, A.G. & Coles, B.J. 2003. Mesolithic to Bronze Age change and human activity in the Exe Valley, Devon, UK. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 69, 161–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gearey, B.R., Charman, D.J. & Kent, M. 2000. Palaeoecological evidence for the prehistoric settlement of Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, southwest England. Part II: land use changes from the Neolithic to the present. Journal of Archaeological Science 27, 493508Google Scholar
Gibson, A. 1992. The excavation of an Iron Age Settlement at Gold Park, Dartmoor. Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 50, 1947Google Scholar
Gibson, A. 2004. Round in circles. Timber henges, henges and stone circles: some possible relationships and transformations. In Cleal, R. & Pollard, J. (eds), Monuments and Material Culture, 7082. Salisbury: HobnobGoogle Scholar
Griffith, F.M. 1984. Archaeological Investigations at Colliford Reservoir, Bodmin Moor 1977–78. Cornish Archaeology 23, 47140Google Scholar
Halliday, S. 1999. Hut-circle Settlements in the Scottish Landscape. Northern Archaeology 17/18, 4966Google Scholar
Hallenday, N. 2000. Inuksuit, Silent Messengers of the Arctic. London: British MuseumGoogle Scholar
Harris, D., Hooper, S. & Trudgian, P. 1984. Excavation of three cairns on Stannon Down, St. Breward. Cornish Archaeology 23, 141–55Google Scholar
Hayman, R. 2003. Trees Woodlands and Western Civilization. London: Hambledon & LondonGoogle Scholar
Healy, F. 2004. Hambledon Hill and its implications. In Cleal, R. & Pollard, J. (eds), Monuments and Material Culture, 1538. Salisbury: HobnobGoogle Scholar
Herring, P. 1983. A long-Cairn on Catshole Tor, Altarnun. Cornish Archaeology 22, 8184Google Scholar
Herring, P. 1998. Stannon Down St. Breward: report on recent disturbances to archaeological remains. CAU, Cornwall County Council, TruroGoogle Scholar
Herring, P. forthcoming. Commons, fields, and communities in prehistoric Cornwall. In Chadwick, A. (ed.), Recent Approaches to the Archaeology of Land Allotment. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports/OxbowGoogle Scholar
Herring, P. & Kirkham, G. forthcoming. A bank cairn on Rough Tor. Cornish ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Humphrey, C. 1997. Chiefly and shamanist landscapes in Mongolia. In Hirsch, E. & O'Hanlon, M. (eds), The Anthropology of Landscape, 135–62. Oxford: University PressGoogle Scholar
Johnson, N. & Rose, P. 1994. Bodmin Moor: an archaeological survey, volume 1: the human landscape to c 1800. London: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Jones, A.M. 19981999. The excavation of a Later Bronze Age Structure at Callestick. Cornish Archaeology 37–8, 555Google Scholar
Jones, A.M. 2005. Cornish Ceremonial Landscapes c. 2500–1500 BC, Oxford: British Archaeological Rreport 394Google Scholar
Jones, A.M. forthcoming. Settlement and ceremony; archaeological investigations at Stannon Down, St Breward, Cornwall. Cornish ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Jones, A.M. & Taylor, S. 2004. What Lies Beneath.…St Newlyn East and Mitchell. HES Cornwall County Council, TruroGoogle Scholar
Jones, A.M. & Tinsley, H.M. 1999/2000. Recording ancient environments at De Lank, St Breward, Cornwall. Cornish Archaeology 39–40, 145–60Google Scholar
Kelly, R.S. 1988. Two late Circular Enclosures near Harlech, Gwynedd. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 54, 101–51Google Scholar
Laurie, T. 2004. Springs, woods and transhumance: reconstructing a Pennine landscape during later prehistory. Landscapes 5(1), 73102Google Scholar
Lawson-Jones, A. 1999. Porthleven Stream Flood Alleviation Scheme. CAU, TruroGoogle Scholar
Lynch, F. 1993. Excavations in the Brenig Valley: a Mesolithic and Bronze Age landscape in North Wales. Bangor: Cambrian Monograph 5Google Scholar
Mercer, R. 1970. The excavation of a Bronze Age hut-circle settlement, Stannon Down. Cornish Archaeology 9, 1746Google Scholar
Mercer, R. 1981. Excavations at Cam Brea, Illogan Cornwall – a Neolithic fortified complex of the third millennium bc. Cornish Archaeology 20, 1204Google Scholar
Mercer, R. 1997. The Excavation of a Neolithic enclosure complex at Helman Tor, Lostwithiel Cornwall. Cornish Archaeology 36, 563Google Scholar
Mercer, R. 2003. The early farming settlement of south western England in the Neolithic. In Armit, I., Murphy, E., Nelis, E. & Simpson, D. (eds), Neolithic Settlement in Ireland and Western Britain, 5670. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Miles, D., Palmer, S., Lock, G., Gosden, C. & Cromarty, A.M. 2004. Uffington White Horse and its Landscape: Investigations at White Horse Hill Uffington, 1989–95 and Tower Hill Ashbury 1993–4, Oxford: Oxford ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Miles, H. 1975. Barrows on the St. Austell Granite. Cornish Archaeology 14, 581Google Scholar
Mulk, I.M. 1994. Sacrificial places and their meaning in Saami society. In Carmichael, D., Hubert, J., Reeves, B. & Schande, A. (eds), Sacred Sites, Sacred Places, 121–31. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Nowakowski, J. 1991. Trethellan Farm, Newquay: the excavation of a lowland Bronze Age settlement and cemetery. Cornish Archaeology 30, 5242Google Scholar
Osborne, O. 2004. Hoards, votives, offerings: the archaeology of the dedicated object. World Archaeology 36, 110Google Scholar
Oswald, A., Dyer, C. & Barber, M. 2001. The Creation of Monuments. Swindon: English HeritageGoogle Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. 2000. Ancestors, stones and bones in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Ireland. In Ritchie, A. (ed.), Orkney in its European Context, 203–14. Cambridge: McDonald InstituteGoogle Scholar
Parker Pearson, M. & Ramilisonina, . 1998. Stonehenge for the ancestors: the stones pass on the message. Antiquity 72, 308326Google Scholar
Pausanius, (Trans Levi, P.). 1979. Guide to Greece Volume I: Central Greece. London: HarmondsworthGoogle Scholar
Quinnell, H. 1994. Becoming marginal? Dartmoor in later prehistory. Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Society 52, 7584Google Scholar
Quinnell, H. 1997. Excavations of an Exmoor barrow and ring cairn. Proceedings of the Devon Archaeology Society 55, 138Google Scholar
RCAHMW (Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales). 1997. Brecknock. Later Prehistoric Monuments and Unenclosed Settlements to 1000 AD. Stroud: SuttonGoogle Scholar
Richards, C. 2004a. Labouring with monuments: constructing the dolmen at Carreg Samson, south-west Wales. In Cummings, & Fowler, (eds) 2004, 7280Google Scholar
Richards, C. 2004b. Rethinking the great stone circles of Northwest Britain. Pictures and Papers in Honour of Dorothy Home Lorimer MBE, 00–00. Orkney Archaeological TrustGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M.A. 2000. Further considerations of Neolithic charred cereals, fruits and nuts. In Fairbairn, A. (ed.), Plants in Neolithic Britain and Beyond, 8590. Oxford: OxbowCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Reimer, P.J. 1993. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 215–30Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., Plicht, J. van der & Spurk, M. 1998. INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000–0 BP. Radiocarbon 40, 1041–83Google Scholar
Thomas, C. 1975. Excavation of a cist on Emblance Downs, St. Breward. Cornish Archaeology 14, 82–4Google Scholar
Thomas, J. 1999. Understanding the Neolithic, London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Tilley, C. 1994. A Phenomenology of Landscape, Oxford: BergGoogle Scholar
Tilley, C. 1995. Rocks as resources: landscapes and power. Cornish Archaeology 34, 557Google Scholar
Wainwright, G., Fleming, A. & Smith, K. 1979. The Shaugh Moor Project: first report. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 45, 134CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wainwright, G. & Smith, K. 1980. The Shaugh Moor Project: second report – the enclosure. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 46, 65122Google Scholar
Whittle, A. 1997a. Moving on and moving around: Neolithic settlement mobility. In Topping, P. (ed.), Neolithic Landscapes, 1522. Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Whittle, A. 1997b. Sacred Mounds, Holy Rings, Oxford: OxbowGoogle Scholar
Whittle, A. 2004. Stones that float to the sky: portal dolmens and their landscapes of myth and memory. In Fowler, Cummings (eds) 2004, 7280Google Scholar
Watson, A. 2004. Monuments that made the World: performing the henge. In Cleal, R. & Pollard, J. (eds), Monuments and Material Culture, 8397. Salisbury: HobnobGoogle Scholar
Worth, R. 1967. Worth's Dartmoor, Newton Abbot: David & CharlesGoogle Scholar