Finds

3 small polished pieces of Amethyst, possibly a modern offering, were found by Paul and Alexandra from Troon. This is their first dig together as new archaeological students and we were happy to allow them to use one of the stones to make an engagement ring.

Over 66 shattered pieces of clay pigeons made of Bakelite were found across the excavation areas. These are numerous small fragments and so whoever was taking an aim were clearly good shots! Some of these are known to have been made of coalite although all the ones found at Carwynnen…

Bronze Age fragments of cord-impressed Trevisker pottery were found in 2012 and a few later pieces show a continuing interaction several thousand years after the quoit first appeared in the landscape. Where small communities lived is unknown although a couple of roundhouses on nearby Copper Hill could suggest that some…

Twenty nine broken pieces of clay pipe stems and 9 fragments of bowls were found during the excavations in 2012. Clay pipes for smoking tobacco have been in use since at least the 16th century in England and for archaeologists they are a useful aid to dating early modern (post…

A George II half penny c 1720 to 1750s We found a possible George II half penny. This is very eroded and in poor condition. Some surface detail can just be seen – although it is very worn.  It is an early find and was perhaps dropped by a passing…

This is a fine complete and unused transverse (chisel form) arrowhead and is made of high quality nodular (black) flint. There are signs of delicate retouch. It is recognizably a Late Neolithic artifact and although an isolated find – perhaps lost by accident – it is a projectile point and…

Local specialist and HE colleague Anna Lawson-Jones has identified over 106 pieces of flint amongst the finds excavated at Carwynnen in 2012. This is the largest collection (to date) of worked flint which has been found in association with an Early Neolithic monument in Cornwall. At least half of the…

Two fragments of drinking vessels of Georgian date were found in one of the test pits in July 2012.  What are these objects doing here in the field? The restoration of this majestic stone monument to its original form and on the original site was executed as reported at that…

Of the most distinctive but very interesting finds were small rounded granite balls which were found in all contexts during The Big Dig. There were so many of them that after some time it was clear that we could only collect a representative sample. These are typically round – the sizes…

Gwithian style rim The largest group of finds found all across the areas excavated in 2012 comprises medieval, post medieval and modern pottery (997 pieces in total). The greatest number (554+) are pieces of modern (19th and 20th century) pottery. But a few small sherds (9) of early medieval pottery…

By Clare Dwyer Neolithic structures, such as stone circles, burial mounds and others, were regarded with superstition and not a little fear since pre-Christian times. Many stories grew up around them. Some were seen as gateways to other worlds belonging to fairies and evil spirits. A common story was that…

Cornish Early Neolithic pottery which dates to around 3900 – 3600 cal BC, that is over 5,000 years ago, is very distinctive: these pots are generally undecorated, have wide mouths, rounded bases with simple lugs or handles. Discoveries of such early pottery are however not that common. The largest collection…

Star find – The pavement found during excavation. The main discovery was a remarkable stone pavement. This was made up of small stone pieces mainly of granite and some quartz and covered an area of approximately 5.5 m². This lay under a variable depth of topsoil (0.15 to 0.35m ). That…

A unique worked piece of greenstone (1240mm long x 500mm wide, weighing 424.1g.), which has the appearance of a pestle was found embedded into the stone surface within the central area of the monument. This fine and complete object has a smooth upperface with a rough underface. The object is cylindrical…

We found a broken fragment of a large cobble (igneous rock) with a worn and rounded surface. Patches of gravels which contain cobbles can be found at source within a 2-3km catchment area of Carwynnen. This may have been deliberately brought to the site to be used in the build of…

Bristol/Staffordshire Ware (C.Thorpe HES) By far the largest group is pottery dating to the post-medieval period (mid 16th to 18th centuries AD) and this material is dominated by bits of glazed earthenware bowls. Some fragments of pottery from Barnstaple, Somerset and even further afield from Bristol and Staffordshire suggest that…

During the 2012 excavations at Carwynnen Quoit a number of worked stone objects were found. A few are highly distinctive. a cobble TP23 (161) displaying possible use as a stone hammer; a small rounded (greenstone) hammerstone which comfortably fits in the hand (U/S), a ‘pestle’ made of greenstone SF910 (518); a waterworn…

This is one of the oddest finds, it was found right within the central area of the main excavation trench. It is a thin perforated roughly circular slate – 400mm x 330mm and 2mm thick. The off-centre perforation is 100mm diameter. It weighs 10.6g. Its discovery promoted much discussion because on one…

One of the original socket socket holes excavated.