Prehistoric Cornish Village

Abstract

RECENT excavations in the prehistoric village of Chrysauster, ten miles from Penzance, under the Ancient Monuments Branch of the Board of Works, have added considerably to the evidence bearing on the age and character of one of the most interesting of ‘British’ settlements. The exploration of the large house opened up by Mr. T. D. Kendrick in 1928 has been completed; two houses untouched by previous explorers have been completely excavated, and the round walls and floors uncovered by Borlase in 1873 and J. B. Cornish in 1897 have been cleared. This settlement, of which eight houses remain overground, with the remnant of its covered pathway of approach, entered by a granite arch, strongly recalls Skara Brae in the Orkneys, which has recently been excavated by Prof. Gordon Childe. The resemblance of the structures to those of Skara Brae is noted by the writer of an article on Chrysauster which appeared in the Times of Jan. 23; but the author would appear to be imperfectly acquainted with the character of the former site. He is in error in regarding Chrysauster as the only known example of prehistoric houses filing along either side of what is apparently a village street, for this arrangement is one of the most characteristic features of Skara Brae. The northern site is more primitive in character, and undoubtedly earlier than Chrysauster, of which the occupation is now dated by the pottery at from about the first century B.C. to the second century A.D. Some of the pottery suggests coarse imitation of contemporary Roman ware. The inhabitants were in part agriculturists, as is indicated by the lynchets behind the village, and, in all probability, tin-streamers. Tin-slag and lumps of shapeless iron have been found, but little else indicative of the character of the material culture.