The prehistory of Cornwall spans an extensive timeframe from the earliest evidence of archaic human presence in Cornwall, perhaps c. 225,000 years ago, to the Roman conquest of Britain c. 43 CE, encompassing the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age periods. Throughout this era Cornwall underwent significant cultural and environmental changes, evolving from a sparsely-populated hunter-gatherer society reliant on rudimentary stone tools to an agricultural society characterized by developed metallurgical practices, expansive trade networks, and emerging social complexity.

During the Palaeolithic era, spanning from c. 225,000 to c. 10,000 years ago, traces of human occupation include lithic fragments and tools such as handaxes, providing limited insights into early and perhaps only intermittent human activity in Cornwall. The subsequent Mesolithic period, from c. 10,000–4000 BCE, provides more substantial evidence of a permanent human presence. This era is characterized by advances in stone tool technology that allowed the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer population of Cornwall to exploit the newly-formed woodland environment and additional marine and freshwater resources that resulted from the warmer temperatures and rising sea levels of the Holocene following the Last Glacial Maximum.

The Neolithic era, c. 4000–2400 BCE, saw significant cultural developments, including the introduction of the earliest pottery, limited agriculture, and the construction of megalithic monuments. Early farming in Cornwall primarily focused on animal husbandry, with only minimal crop cultivation. Cornish greenstone was used to manufacture stone axes, which were widely exported across Britain, while gabbroic clay from the Lizard was used extensively for ceramic production. In exchange, flint and axes were imported from other parts of Britain, along with jadeite axes from the European mainland.

The Bronze Age, c. 2400–800 BCE, marked the emergence of metalworking, with bronze utilized to manufacture tools, weapons, and ornaments. Megalithic monument construction reached its peak in the Early Bronze Age, while Cornwall's natural resources, particularly tin, gold, and gabbroic clay, played an important role in regional and European trade networks. Large numbers of roundhouse villages were built across Cornwall, and by the Middle Bronze Age the region had become a fully agricultural society.

The Iron Age, c. 800 BCE – 43 CE, witnessed further social and technological developments, together with climatic changes that resulted in colder and wetter conditions for much of this period. Iron replaced bronze as the metal used in tool and weapon manufacture, and large numbers of fortified sites like rounds, hillforts, and cliff castles, which perhaps served as local power centres, were built by Cornwall's growing population. The arrival of the Romans in 43 CE traditionally marks the conclusion of the prehistoric period in Cornwall.

Palaeolithic (c. 700,000–10,000 BP)

Map

Palaeolithic sites in Cornwall^[1][2][3][4]

Chronology and overview

The Palaeolithic in Britain spans the period from the earliest archaic human presence in Britain, from at least 780,000 years ago,^[6] to the beginning of the Mesolithic, approximately 10,000 years ago.^[5] The Palaeolithic archaeological period falls within the Pleistocene geological epoch, which has a complex history of changing climatic conditions and fluctuating sea levels over an extensive period.^[5]

During the Last Glacial Maximum human populations abandoned Britain, but by 16,000 years ago most of Southern Britain was again free from ice, and humans returned to Southwestern Britain shortly after, c. 15,500 BP.^[7][8] Some evidence, such as the erratic boulders found on Cornwall's north and south coasts, may suggest the earlier presence of glacial ice in Cornwall.^[9] Ancient DNA research indicates that two distinct populations inhabited Britain in the Late Glacial Period: one group related to the c. 15,000 year old Goyet-Q2 individual from the Goyet Caves in Belgium, believed to have expanded from a Southwest European refugium, and a second group related to the c. 14,000 year old Western Hunter-Gatherer individual from Villabruna, Italy, who exhibited greater affinity to Near Eastern populations. This second ancestry profile is predominant in British Mesolithic individuals.^[8]

Direct evidence for Palaeolithic human presence in Cornwall is limited, suggesting only intermittent activity.^[10][11][12] Sites may have been lost due to subsequent sea level rises and erosion, with the absence of identified cave or rock shelters possibly attributable to insufficient examination of potential upland shelters.^[12][13] The few identified Palaeolithic findspots in Cornwall consist predominantly of surface stone scatters, along with a few examples of stone tools. Most of these are concentrated in the far south west.^[14][12] Booby's Bay, near Trevose Head on the north coast, has been interpreted as the possible site of an Upper Palaeolithic community, with evidence for flintworking and a hearth.^[14][15] Notable finds include an Upper Palaeolithic Acheulian flint handaxe found at Lower Leha, St Buryan potentially dating to around 200,000–225,000 BCE,^[16][17][1] and a Middle Palaeolithic Levallois core implement at Higher Polcoverack Farm, St Keverne.^[18][1] Other discoveries include hand axes from Constantine, Grade-Ruan, and Coverack, as well as broken handaxes from Ladock and Lanhydrock.^[18][1] At Landewednack, multiple findspots yielded a complete handaxe, a broken handaxe, a handaxe fragment, and an incomplete biface.^[1][18]

The only possible evidence for Upper Palaeolithic human activity in the Isles of Scilly, which was at the time still connected to the mainland, consists of a curved-backed 'penknife' point blade, assuming this object can be correctly assigned to this period.^[19][20]

Mesolithic (c. 9660–4000 BCE)

Chronology and overview

The Mesolithic, which follows the Upper Palaeolithic and ends with the introduction of farming, had a warmer climate that resulted in rising sea and river levels and the expansion of woodland, as well as significant changes in stone tool technology.^[21][22] In contrast with the preceding Palaeolithic period, there is credible evidence for a permanent human presence in Cornwall during the Mesolithic.^[23] Semi-nomadic hunter gatherers, who crafted tools from stone and probably other organic materials, sustained themselves through seasonal hunting, fishing and gathering.^[24] There is an apparent preference for coastal areas,^[25] which were exploited for their plentiful food resources.^[26]

Environment

The onset of the Mesolithic period coincides with the end of the Late Glacial Period and the onset of the Holocene, a period of milder climatic conditions following the Last Glacial Maximum. The earlier Mesolithic, up to c. 7,500 BP, was a period of relatively sudden change, which was followed by a more stable period.^[27] The warmer temperatures of the Early Mesolithic led to a rapid rise in sea levels, resulting in significant changes to the shape of the Cornish coastline, a decrease in the total land area, and the replacement of cold-adapted flora and fauna with other species. During this period there was an expansion of grasslands and oak, hazel, birch, and elm woodlands were established.^{[13][28][27][29]}

Overall, studies suggest a significant decline of tree cover on Bodmin Moor and the lowland hills and valleys around the mid-6th millennium BCE, resulting in a sparsely wooded environment and the expansion of open grasslands.^[30][31] The extent to which this environment was shaped by climatic factors or human activity is unclear.^[32]

In Scilly, the Mesolithic was characterized by extensive tree cover, consisting mostly of oak, hazel, and birch^[33] that persisted into the early Neolithic.^[34]

Material culture

Sites

Findspots and sites are particularly concentrated in coastal areas, which attracted Mesolithic people due to the abundant marine food resources. There is an apparent preference for occupation of the north coast, which may be the result of the differential effects of erosion making these sites more archaeologically visible. Large lithic assemblages have also been found at some lowland sites on the south coast.^{[35][36][37][26]} Temporary camps and sites are also found along rivers, on moorland, and around the moorland-lowland ecotone.^[35][38] During the later Mesolithic period sites were located on terraces or low ridges, possibly to provide protection from humans or animals.^[39] Late Mesolithic sites are typically larger than earlier Mesolithic sites, suggesting that they were occupied by larger populations. One explanation for this trend may be the rising sea levels, which reduced the available land area, and may have led to a concentration of resources.^[29]

The absence of surviving structures and organic materials has hindered conclusive interpretations of the functions of Mesolithic sites.^[3] Upland sites on Bodmin Moor, such as Dozmary Pool, Colliford Reservoir, and Butterstor, are believed to have been temporary or semi-permanent summer deer hunting or butchery sites.^[40][41] Similarly, clifftop sites on the north coast, as well as Croft Pascoe on the Lizard, have also been interpreted as seasonal hunting sites.^{[38][3][42][43]} In contrast, lowland sites such as Poldowrian and Windmill Farm, both on the Lizard, are believed to have functioned as base camps.^[38][3] The Trevose Head area, which would have been inland in the early Mesolithic, may have been a permanent settlement from which people could exploit both coastal and inland resources.^[44]

Significant lithic assemblages, indicative of extensive stone tool production, are found at Poldowrian, Windmill Farm, Butterstor, and North Cliffs.^{[45][46][47][48]} At Dozmary Pool, Bodmin Moor's only permanent lake, thousands of flint scrapers have been found, suggesting that it may have been a hide processing site.^{[49][45][25][50]} More than twenty Mesolithic sites have been found in the Gwithian area, yielding thousands of items including hundreds of bevelled pebbles, which may have been scrapers for preparing seal hides.^[51] The presence of a large number of what have been interpreted as seal gastroliths may indicate additional Late Mesolithic seal processing at North Cliffs, Camborne.^[52]

The earliest evidence for the settlement of Scilly, apart from the possible Upper Palaeolithic find, dates to the early Mesolithic.^[35] Limited evidence, including a microlith and a pebble hammer, suggests that Scilly was probably visited seasonally by hunter-gatherers from the mainland.^[53][54] A Mesolithic flintworking site has been identified at Old Town Quay, St Martin's.^[53]

Tools

The Mesolithic is characterized by significant changes in stone tool technology.^[55] Tools were manufactured by the prepared-core technique, breaking flint or chert beach pebbles with hammerstones to produce bladelets.^[56] A wide variety of tools were made and used at Cornish Mesolithic sites, including hammerstones, stone anvils, scrapers, choppers, bevelled pebble tools, arrow tip microliths, awls, burins, axes, pickaxes, and backed blades.^{[57][3][58][59]}

Microliths are the most common find at Mesolithic sites.^[60] The introduction of the use of stone microliths as arrowheads was a significant development, as arrows were a useful tool for hunting the comparatively smaller game of the newly-formed woodland environment.^[55] Petit tranchet arrowheads for hunting birds are found at Dozmary Pool, Crowdy Marsh, and Davidstow Moor^[61]

Pebble hammers may have been used as nutcrackers or as weights.^[62] Burins were used on bone and antler.^[60] Scrapers were used to work wood, bone, antler and hides, and awls were used as piercing tools to make clothes.^[60][39] Bevelled pebbles, previously thought to be tools for harvesting limpets, have more recently been interpreted as scrapers for preparing seal skins to make coracles.^[63][64]

The primary source of flint and chert for Cornish Mesolithic tools was beach pebbles originating from the Haig Fras.^[65] Additional sources may have included chert from Portland, Dorset, and high quality black flint from Beer Head, Devon.^[65]

While organic materials such as bone, antler, plant fibres, wood, hide, and shell have not been preserved due to Cornwall's acidic soils, they probably comprised a substantial portion of Mesolithic material culture.^[63]

Engraved pebbles, incised with parallel lines, have been found at Trevose Head and Poldowrian.^[66] Intentionally decorated pebbles from the Mesolithic are very rare in Britain.^[67]

Ritual

Some archaeologists have suggested that later Mesolithic communities in Cornwall participated in rituals that demonstrated a strong connection to their surroundings, such as deposition of charcoal or quartz into pits. Quartz may have been perceived as having magical properties by Mesolithic people, and this belief may have been passed down into the later Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, when more extensive evidence of quartz depositions is found.^[68][69]

Mesolithic populations may have attached symbolic or ritual significance to natural features such as lakes, springs, marshes, and the tors that remained culturally significant to people in Cornwall throughout the prehistoric period.^[70][71][72]

Mesolithic burial sites are rare throughout Britain, and none are known in Cornwall.^[70] Mesolithic people may have practised excarnation as a funerary ritual.^[73]

Caradoc Peters speculates that in the late Mesolithic period people may have started to perceive themselves as separate from nature, rather than an integral part of it, and used rituals in an attempt to appease the natural world.^[74]

Subsistence

Evidence suggests that Mesolithic Cornwall was inhabited by a significant population of semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who sustained themselves through hunting, fishing, and gathering by exploiting coastal, estuarine, riverine, and woodland environments.^{[75][76][3][38][35]} Some sites, such as Poldowrian and Windmill Farm, indicate the presence of large groups of people, suggesting comparatively high food availability in these areas.^[77]

The Mesolithic diet probably consisted of a wide variety of foods including fish, shellfish, seaweed, seals, birds, deer, wild pigs, aurochs, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, and fungi.^{[77][78][79][26]} Middens discovered at Trevelgue Head suggest that shellfish stew may have been a staple in the inhabitants' diet.^[61]

A common 'Southwest British economic area' may have existed, characterized by shared seasonal movement patterns. This seasonal cycle may have consisted of fishing in spring and summer, animal herding and hunting in the uplands in late summer, fishing in autumn and early winter, and hunting in the woodlands in late winter and early spring.^[74][61]

Limited evidence suggests that woodland may have been intentionally cleared by burning to manage mammal populations for hunting and encourage hazel growth to improve nut harvests.^[24][28] Additionally red deer may have been introduced to Scilly in the Mesolithic period, with woodland intentionally burned to encourage growth of willow shoots for the deer to feed on.^[80]

Trade and cultural links

Cornwall's geographical location, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the north and west and the English Channel on the south, with the Tamar separating it from the rest of southern Britain, has led to a reliance on maritime trade.^[81] Rising sea levels in the Mesolithic produced a high ratio of coast to land, along with larger rivers, which likely facilitated travel by bark or animal skin canoes and perhaps expedited social change.^[77]

By the 5th millennium BCE, long-distance maritime routes between the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Ireland, and northern Britain had probably been established.^[82] Flint from Beer and chert from Portland were regularly exchanged with groups in Cornwall, perhaps traded for pebble hammers from the Carbis Bay area.^[83][84] Mesolithic flint axes found in Cornwall may occasionally have been imported from distant regions.^[56]

Genetics

Individuals carrying Villabruna (Western Hunter-Gatherer) ancestry are found in Britain from around 12,000 BP, before the Mesolithic. All British Mesolithic individuals so far studied, with the exception of Cheddar Man, can be modelled entirely with this component without the need for any of the additional Goyet-Q2 component that was predominant in some earlier Palaeolithic individuals, although two-source models, in which Villabruna-related ancestry is still predominant, are also possible. Villabruna ancestry is found in individuals throughout the Mesolithic, but is eventually almost completely replaced by populations carrying Early European Farmer ancestry, who arrived in Britain at the beginning of the Neolithic.^[8]

Neolithic (c. 4000–2400 BCE)

Chronology

The Neolithic revolution was a major turning point in human prehistory, when societies transitioned from hunter-gatherer societies to settled farming communities. Originating in the Middle East, the Neolithic cultural package, which included domesticated plants and animals, pottery, and other technologies, spread to the Aegean and Eastern Marmara regions and then to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea and the Danube river.^[86][87][88] The Neolithic reached Britain c. 4000 BCE, probably spreading from the Thames Estuary to the South West Peninsula within around 100 years.^[87][89][90] Ancient DNA studies suggest that agriculture was introduced to Britain by migrating Early European Farmer groups bringing their Neolithic lifestyle from the European mainland, and argue against the competing hypothesis that indigenous British hunter-gatherers became farmers.^{[91][87][92][93]}

Features of the Neolithic in Cornwall include the introduction of limited agriculture, the emergence of ceramics, stone axe production, and the construction of distinctive structures and monuments such as tor enclosures and chambered tombs. Economic and ritual practices in Neolithic Cornwall show influence from neighbouring fully agricultural societies elsewhere in Southern Britain.^[91][94]

Environment

The Neolithic coincides with the Middle Holocene, a period of slower sea level rises compared to the Early Holocene. Nevertheless, sea level rose by several metres during the Neolithic, further changing the south west coastline and submerging large areas of forest.^[95] Higher sea levels resulted in decreased river slopes, which in combination with expanding woodlands resulted in the formation of meandering or anastamosing river beds.^[96] Ombrogenous bogs developed on Bodmin Moor during the Middle Holocene.^[97]

At the beginning of the Neolithic, oak and hazel woodland was predominant.^[98] Evidence suggests that small-scale woodland clearance began sometime after 4000 BCE.^[98] Further lowland elm woodland decline, attributed to human activity, and the expansion of grasslands is dated to c. 3640–3370 BCE.^[99]

Material culture

Settlements

Neolithic sites in Cornwall are typically classified as either seasonal camps or hilltop enclosures. Seasonal camps were used for activities such as fishing, hunting, gathering, or herding, while hilltop enclosures may have served as sacred sites for rituals or the exchange of goods.^[100] Neolithic sites are more often found inland compared to Mesolithic, where they are more commonly found near coasts, suggesting a shift from a mainly marine diet to more terrestrial food.^[101][102] On Bodmin Moor, hilltop sites were preferred over riversides.^[103]

Buildings

The earliest limited evidence for domestic structures in Cornwall dates to the Neolithic. This includes the remains of an early Neolithic longhouse and a circular structure at Penhale, as well as the remains of insubstantial and probably temporary domestic structures at the Helman Tor and Carn Brea tor enclosures.^{[104][105][106]}

Monuments

In Northwest Europe, Britain, and Scandinavia, where Mesolithic communities persisted for a relatively long time, large stone monuments (megaliths) were constructed in the Neolithic for ceremonial or other purposes.^[89] In Cornwall, megalithic structures such as menhirs, stone rows, and stone circles, as well as other distinctive monument forms such as tor enclosures, simple tombs, portal dolmens, and long mounds, were built from the early Neolithic until the first millennium BCE.^{[107][108][94][109]}

Tor enclosures

Tor enclosures are large monuments surrounded by stone walls that incorporate natural granite outcrops (tors).^[105][110] The best-known examples are Carn Brea and Helman Tor, both dated to the Neolithic.^{[110][111][112]} While tor enclosures have been interpreted as permanent defended agricultural settlements and manufacturing centres, evidence for substantial domestic structures or food processing tools at this type of site is limited.^[113][114] Alternative purposes of tor enclosures have been proposed, including serving as sites for the exchange of resources such as greenstone axes and ceramics, or as locations of regular gatherings for ceremonies such as death rites, excarnation, or marriages.^{[115][116][117][118]}

At Carn Brea, evidence for fire damage to buildings followed by an apparent rapid abandonment of the enclosure, along with the discovery of hundreds of leaf-shaped flint arrowheads, have been interpreted as evidence for an attack on this site by a large group of archers.^{[119][120][121]} This may reflect a wider trend of attacks on Neolithic enclosures across Southern Britain.^[121]

On Scilly, terraced hillsides were built instead of the tor enclosures found on the mainland.^[122]

Tombs

Chambered tombs feature a large burial chamber which was typically used for interring multiple individuals over an extended period.^[123] These monuments, dating to the early Neolithic, are usually associated with cremation. Examples include the simple chambered tombs of Chûn, Mulfra, and Grumbla, as well as portal dolmens at Zennor (c. 3350–3000 BCE), Trevethy, and Pawton, along with unclassified examples like Sperris (c. 3600–3500 BCE), Lanyon, and Lesquite.^{[107][124][125][126]} Chambered tombs were probably monuments dedicated to the dead, with the presence of cremated human bone inside the Zennor and Sperris quoits indicating that these structures were used for funerary rituals.^[127]

Propped stones, or 'pseudo-quoits', consisting of a large stone raised up on smaller stones atop a tor, may date to the 3rd or 4th millennium BCE. Solar alignments have been suggested for some of these structures, such as the example at Leskernick on Bodmin Moor.^[108] Alternatively, propped stones may have served to indicate the route of seasonal animal migrations.^[102]

A small number of long mounds, mainly located in the east of Cornwall, probably date to the early Neolithic.^[107]

Other monuments

Three late Neolithic class I henges are found at Castilly, Castlewich, and the Stripple Stones.^[128][129]

Embanked avenues, consisting of two parallel banks of stone, include the 55-metre-long monument at Craddock Moor, possibly dating to the middle Neolithic. These structures may be related to the cursus monuments found elsewhere in Britain and Ireland.^[128][130]

While some Cornish stone circles may date to the late Neolithic, they are mostly dated to the Bronze Age.^[128]

Pottery

Extrusions of gabbro, a phaneritic igneous rock, are found on parts of the Lizard Peninsula, including a small area near Zoar where the largest outcrop of gabbro in Britain is found. The decay of these extrusions results in the formation of gabbroic clay,^[131][132] which is rich in feldspar, olivines, and other minerals. This allows pottery made from this clay to be successfully fired in a bonfire without the need for a kiln. Although it is more difficult to work with compared to other clay types it can still be crafted into high-quality ceramics.^{[133][134][132]}

Gabbroic clays were a valuable resource for the manufacture of ceramics in Cornwall from the early Neolithic until around the 8th century CE.^{[135][136][131]} Unlike most prehistoric pottery, which was typically produced from local clay sources, Cornish gabbroic pottery and clay was distributed across most of Southern Britain from the Early Neolithic, probably through trade networks.^{[137][138][132][139]} The enduring use of gabbroic clay in Cornwall suggests that it may have had some sort of special significance for its users, possibly linked to regional identity.^[140]

In addition to gabbroic fabrics, other types of clay were also used locally in the Neolithic. Ceramics made from local granitic clays, for example, have been found in Scilly, in West Penwith, and at Trevelgue Head.^[141][142]

The first ceramics in Cornwall date to c. 4000 BCE,^[91] with the emergence of the Hembury or Southwestern Ware style that is found in Cornwall until c. 3350 BCE. Hembury Ware, found throughout the Southwest, is generally undecorated, and is characterized by round-based, wide-mouthed bowls, often with lugs. Most Hembury Ware was made using gabbroic clay from the Lizard.^[141][143] Hembury Ware vessels could have been prestige items that were crafted by specialist potters and then exchanged or traded across a large area of southern Britain.^[144][143] Carinated Bowls, although infrequent finds in Cornwall, are found in unusually large numbers at Carn Brea, where they were made from gabbroic fabric, and at a few other sites where they were made from a blend of gabbroic and local clays.^{[145][146][147]} Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Prehistoric_Cornwall
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