Return to Gwithian: Revealing secrets from the Dunes
For over 20 years (during the 1950s and 60s) the coastal parish of Gwithian in West Cornwall was the scene for a major archaeological landscape study. Over 70 sites, dating from the Mesolithic (8,000 years ago) right through to the post-medieval period, were discovered within a 15 sq km study area. These sites were investigated through large and small excavations, field surveys, and field walking. At Gwithian a long history of settlement was confirmed when well-preserved archaeological remains of different periods were discovered. The main excavations revealed localised sequences of undisturbed land surfaces sealed by episodes of blown sand. These sand blows, up the mouth of the Red River, effectively fossilised episodes of early settlement, capturing them in time and concealing them from view. These long sequences dating to the prehistoric, Roman, post-Roman and medieval periods make Gwithian unique in South-Western Britain. It has recently been declared a site of international importance.
The project was directed by Charles Thomas, then a young archaeology graduate and Cornishman. Throughout the 1950s and early 60s each season of fieldwork became a major fixture in the digging calendar providing an exceptional training school for many archaeology students who learnt the tools of their trade. The Gwithian project successfully married amateur enthusiasm with professional practice and ambition and is very much part of the early history of the Cornwall Archaeological Society. Papers on some results appeared in early volumes of Cornish Archaeology. Its director, now Professor Charles Thomas, is a key figure responsible for the promotion of Cornwall’s unique archaeology at home and abroad and his work at Gwithian has been central in this. Although interim papers and articles appeared with exemplary frequency throughout the working-life of the fieldwork project, the opportunity to fully analyse and publish the results of this innovative landscape study did not materialise.
Since 2003 until earlier this year, a team from the Historic Environment Service has been working on the enormous archive: 148 boxes of finds (approximately 24,000 finds), 45 boxes of paperwork, 10 portfolios of field drawings and over 1,000 B/W negatives and colour slides. Our overall aims have been to make the archive accessible for future research and to appraise and promote key results of the project. This work has been funded by the Aggregate Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) administered by English Heritage. A number of reports have now been produced and these are available on the Archaeology Data Service website www.ads.ahds.ac.uk The archive has now been deposited in the Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro.
Our recent work has focused on the key Bronze Age and post-Roman excavations. These key excavations uncovered exceptional results which have assured Gwithian’s legacy and continuing relevance in many aspects of Cornish and British archaeology feeding into many current regional and national research themes for the 2nd millennium BC and the 1st millennium AD.
This recent work has moved the results of these excavations closer to full publication as all the data has been collated and the full stratigraphic stories for two major excavations have been appraised, for the first time accompanied by a scientific (AMS) dates. New samples were collected in June 2005 when the Gwithian team revisited the Bronze Age site and opened up a former trench. Samples for OSL dating (Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating) were also collected. This is the first time that this technique has been used on a Cornish site as it is particularly suitable for dating sandy sediments. OSL dating proved successful and two major horizons produced 2nd millennium BC dates.
For the Bronze Age sites (GMX, XI, XV etc) recent radiocarbon dates show that the earliest settlement dates to 1800 cal BC with cultivation taking place within terraced fields and enclosures. The true extent of these early fields is unknown but plough-marks were found scored into the earliest land surface revealing well-developed farming and horticulture practices. Barley was grown (Hordeum sp.). Land snails indicated a broadly open local landscape and fragments of marine shells found mixed into the earliest soils with other organic matter, shows active manuring and composting. The ground plan of a remarkable round wooden building – a probable single homestead – set within a stake-built enclosure was found. Another major phase of settlement (dating to c 1500 - 1200 cal BC) was marked by evidence for extensive cultivation, great areas of criss-cross furrows found in small fields, and animal husbandry. A number of human cremations were buried alongside field walls indicating ownership and a powerful bond with the land. The final phase of settlement, which dates c 1300 – 900 cal BC, is more complex in character. In areas where there had earlier been fields, a small nucleated village was established made up of circular post-built buildings. Some were dwelling houses but some were probably animal shelters and workshops. The land around was still divided into fields many of which had been laid out generations before. Evidence for a wide variety of industry and craft activities was found: pottery manufacture, leather and bone working, fishing and small-scale metalworking. The demise of this exceptionally long settlement history was marked by the abandonment of the village and its burial under tons of settlement rubbish. The Bronze Age story at Gwithian over perhaps up to 20 generations of farmers is very much a story of people and land.
The post-Roman excavations (sites GMI etc) were smaller in scale but these also produced unique results. Again a localised sequence was uncovered and this has now been scientifically dated to 5th to 8th centuries cal AD. The site was made up of a series of small cellular stone-lined buildings nested into large hollows within the dunes. Three main phases were recorded characterised by industry and craft such as small-scale iron-working, the working of animal bone, salt-making and fishing. The final third phase is marked by systematic abandonment when the site is buried under middens. The site remains without parallel in Cornwall and has all the hallmarks of an “out-of-town” industrial quarter which may have been established to provide for a nearby contemporary settlement – the remains of which are yet to be found. The ceramic assemblage - the largest for this period in the south west - is a key collection for post-Roman Cornwall. Two major native groups were found: Gwithian Style and grass-marked pottery. Baggy bar-lugged pots also appeared on the local scene. These native wares suggest a vibrant and innovative local ceramic industry but alongside these were foreign imports such as fine late Roman table wares, Bi and Bii amphorae and E-ware. All hail from the distant shores of the eastern Mediterranean, north Africa and south-west France and all must have reached Gwithian by maritime trade. These finds link Gwithian to a wider world far beyond the local shoreline. Gwithian’s coastal status during this period seems key to an understanding of the significance of this intriguing site.
Other key sites excavated at Gwithian included an Early Bronze Age barrow on Godrevy headland (site GB), a small Roman homestead (GT, Porth Godrevy), and an abandoned medieval manor (Crane Godrevy). All have provided unique but linked stories which reveal the importance of the coastal zone for human settlement since at least early prehistory.
Detailed illustrated summaries of the principal discoveries have been produced and articles published in British Archaeology (in 2006 on the Bronze Age) and Current Archaeology (in 2008 on the post-Roman site). A summary of the Bronze Age site will appear in a special Prehistoric Society Monograph. A fuller illustrated summary of the Gwithian story incorporating recent results is published in a forthcoming volume of Cornish Archaeology. Titled: “Return to Gwithian: Shifting the Sands of Time”, by Jacqueline A Nowakowski, Henrietta Quinnell, Joanna Sturgess, Charles Thomas and Carl Thorpe et al. This special volume of Cornish Archaeology is dedicated to the Gwithian project and published this autumn (2008) to celebrate Professor Charles Thomas’ 80th birthday.
Copies of the volume are available from Adrian Rodda 52 Mount Pleasant Road, Camborne, TR14 7RJ
adrian.rodda@cornisharchaeology.org.uk
Copies @ £15 (UK) £18 (overseas) includes p + p
Text © Jacky Nowakowski, Historic Environment Service October 2008
Cornish Archaeology Volume 45
Published October 2008
The front cover shows a cropmark enclosure with an annexe on its west side (right in the photograph) in Ladock parish.
Photograph: Historic Environment Service, Cornwall County Council)
Copies of the volume are available from Adrian Rodda 52 Mount Pleasant Road, Camborne, TR14 7RJ
Contains news of Society activities, archaeological happenings, walks, talks, meetings, symposia and special events throughout Cornwall. An important membership benefit, this 8-page, A4-sized newsletter is packed full with interesting information for everyone with a love of Cornish archaeology.
Cornish Archaeology, Volume 43-44, Published March 2008
(Available to non-members for £18.00)
The front cover shows the view from Stannon stone circle to Rought Tor, partly obscured by the spoil heaps of Stannon china-clay works. The Stannon circle is one of the largest in Cornwall and formed part of a wider earlier prehistoric ceremonial landscape, other elements of which were investigated in a major project undertaken in 1998-9; see A.M. Jones, Settlement and ceremony: archaeological investigations at Stannon Downs, St. Breward, Cornwall, this volume. Photograph: Graeme Kirkham.
Cornish Archaeology, Volume 41-42, Published February 2006
(Available to non-members for £18.00)
Cover Illustration: The decorated bronze mirror found at Trelan Bahow, St. Keverne, in 1833. The recent recovery of a similar mirror from a cist burial on Bryher, Isles of Scilly, has prompted a reassessment of the significance of this form of Iron Age metalwork; see C Johns, An Iron Age sword and mirror cist burial from Bryher, Isles of Scilly in this volume. Photograph courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.
