<< Our Photo Pages >> Truro Eastern District Centre Neolithic Enclosure - Causewayed Enclosure in England in Cornwall
Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 08 November 2012 Page Views: 20972
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Truro Eastern District Centre Neolithic EnclosureCountry: England County: Cornwall Type: Causewayed Enclosure
Nearest Town: Truro
Map Ref: SW838459
Latitude: 50.273389N Longitude: 5.035486W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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lucasn visited on 9th Jul 2019 - their rating: Cond: 1 Amb: 3 Access: 4
Andy B have visited here
Later activity on the site includes the deposition of Late Neolithic Grooved Ware in pits within the enclosure, one of which also contained a stunning piece of Neolithic art carved onto both sides of a slate disc.
Now the team led by Cornwall Council’s Historic Environment Service will catalogue their findings, take samples and carefully re-bury the site.
"While it is important that we take the opportunity to learn more about our findings now, best practice is for the site to be preserved for future generations of archaeologists who will have better technologies to understand it than we do today," said Dan Ratcliffe from the Council’s Historic Environment Service. "Scientific analysis of evidence recovered during the excavations is expected to take some years after the sample excavation has concluded."
Initial surveys of the site were carried out in 2009, with a condition of the planning approval being to carry out further archaeological research. This work was commissioned by the Council’s Transportation Service.
Tim Wood, Cornwall Council’s assistant head of transportation, said: “The proposed development has sufficient flexibility in the design to ensure that the construction above does not interfere with the archaeological remains.
“Following recommendations from the Council’s archaeological advisor, we will reflect the archaeological significance of the site including installing interpretation boards.”
Around 80 sites with evidence of causewayed enclosures are known across southern Britain. The find at Truro is the first to be discovered to the south west of the border between Dorset and Devon although the ‘tor enclosures’ at Carn Brea and Helman Tor are thought to have been built at the same time and may have served similar functions.
“A causewayed enclosure was a large circular or oval area enclosed by a large bank and ditch,” said Dan Ratcliffe. “These sites date to the early Neolithic period - a period which also saw the first introduction of agriculture to Britain, the domestication of animals, the manufacture of pottery, and the first appearance of large communally built and used ceremonial monuments. Both the construction of the site and the activities within and around it probably served to bring communities together.”
Cornish Archaeology add: We have uncovered a Neolithic enclosure comprising two, possibly three, segments of enclosure ditch of considerable scale enclosing an area approximately 70m across. There is evidence for an internal bank, and possibly an external one too. The survival of Neolithic stratigraphy is quite remarkable given the thin nature of the topsoil over the site.
We have yet to date the construction of the ditch but later activity on the site includes the deposition of Late Neolithic Grooved Ware in pits within the enclosure, one of which also contained a stunning piece of Neolithic art carved onto both sides of a slate disc. We have a tentative identification of Middle Neolithic Peterborough Ware from a pit cut into the possible external bank
Source: Cornwall County Council and Cornish Archaeology
Note: A stunning piece of Neolithic art carved onto both sides of a slate disc excavated in Cornwall
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