Carn Brea - Neolithic Settlement

Neolithic Settlement

The earliest Neolithic settlement at Carn Brea was a tor enclosure occupied between around 3700 and 3400 BC. A two acre (8,000 m²) inner enclosure was surrounded by one of eleven acres (45,000 m²). The ramparts consisted of stone walls with an earth bank and ditch. Traces of fourteen platforms on which would have stood Neolithic long houses have been found by archaeologists within its ramparts along with pottery and flint artifacts. The site was excavated between 1970 and 1973 by Roger Mercer. A population of 100 to 150 has been suggested. There is evidence that the occupants cleared the surroundings by burning away the undergrowth and removing stones to use the land for farming. The acid soil obliterated any environmental evidence about this. Nearby outcrops of rock suitable for manufacture as axes would have contributed to the village's economy. Edge grinding stones, blanks and incomplete and finished axes found on the site indicate that the inhabitants were accomplished stoneworkers and traded their products to others. That the pottery found on the site appears to have been made from gabbroic clay originating from nearly 20 miles (30 km) to south in the present day parish of St Keverne further supports a complex economic network in the area.

The 700 flint arrowheads found scattered at the site suggest that Carn Brea may have been attacked at least once. Every timber structure on the site had been burnt, the charcoal being the only organic matter that survived the acid soils. The earthworks themselves may also have been deliberately damaged by an invading power.