Trevelgue Head
The Cliff Castle or Promontory Fort Trevelgue Head at Porth in the north-east of Newquay on the north coast of Cornwall in England is one of the most famous prehistoric monuments of Cornwall. It consists of a headland separated by eight massive earth and stone walls, on which there are also two large early Bronze Age burial mounds.
Excavation history
In 1939 Trevelgue was archaeologically examined. Charles Kenneth Croft Andrew directed the work. Despite great public interest, the results of the work were never published, as the project was stopped on the eve of World War II . The excavations of the first extensively investigated Promontory Fort have provided a wealth of information about Trevelgue's special character, particularly during the 1st millennium BC. Performed. The cliff, however, has a history that goes back to the Mesolithic , but the main phase of use is associated with the construction of the complex ramparts and dates back to the 6th to 1st century BC. Chr.
Finds and Findings
In the interior of a unique round house, areas with pre-industrial iron smelting and midden (layers of waste) were examined. The Iron Age structure is 14.5 m in diameter and is one of the largest buildings from this period discovered in Cornwall.
Metallic objects made of iron, copper and tin as well as 200 kg of iron slag were found along with smelting furnaces and ore roasting pits. They prove the key regional role of Trevelgue. The influence of the Trevelgue at the time of the fundamental social change brought about by iron technology is underpinned by the fact that it reached across the Tamar (river) to Devon and southern England.
Over 4,000 pieces of decorated southwest ceramics show the high standard of manufacture and artistic expression. This collection is scientifically dated and one of the most important ceramic collections in the South West.
The excavation has revealed an unusually large amount of well-preserved animal bones for Cornwall, which indicates the importance of livestock farming at the time (see Dartmoor Pounds ). The radiocarbon data also provided important data for regional and national Iron Age research. The most important discoveries and finds have been published since 1997. A monograph was published in 2011.
literature
- J. Ford-Johnston: Hillforts of the Iron Age in England and Wales: A Survey of the Surface Evidence. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press 1976.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 25 '36.6 " N , 5 ° 3' 45.5" W.