A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



by man ; and also, in the case of the ancient floor at Prah Sands first referred 

 to, the actual sites of fires, etc., made probably by neolithic men. 



It will be convenient, perhaps, to deal with the last-mentioned discovery 

 first. In the years 1902 and 1903, during some severe gales, much of the 

 talus and sand which masked the foot of the cliff between Sydney Cove and 

 Hoe Point, at Prah Sands, was washed away. The beach was removed in 

 several places, so as to show the rocky floor beneath. In this way the ancient 

 floor was laid bare at the foot of the cliffs. It occurred as a black seam about 

 six inches thick, consisting largely of small fragments of charcoal, mixed with 

 small splinters of carbonized bone, and fragments of burnt earth. On carefully 

 examining this black layer Mr. Clement Reid l ascertained that this charcoal 

 was particularly abundant at several spots where the loam, as a rule nearly 

 clean, contained groups of three or four blocks of flatfish slabs of stone, which 

 were generally of elvan. At these spots the black loam was commonly full of 

 pieces of quartz, usually small, possibly the remains of larger blocks shattered 

 by fire. ' As we had evidently found a true land-surface,' writes Mr. Reid, 

 ' on which man had made hearths and lighted fires, a careful search was 

 made in this black layer. Unfortunately the deposit seems to have been 

 thoroughly decalcified, and the fossils destroyed by percolating water, for only 

 carbonized remains are preserved. We found, however, some of the larger 

 pieces of vein-quartz in this layer were apparently fashioned into rude imple- 

 ments ; but these had been battered into shape, not flaked. This absence of 

 flaking seems, however, to be due to the intractable nature of the only material 

 available. Vein-quartz breaks with a rough, splintery fracture, for each 

 lump is usually made up of portions of many crystals, and the material will 

 not flake like chalk-flint or like large crystals of quartz. . . . The quantity of 

 charcoal observed, and the number of hearths found (six or seven) were 

 surprising ; but this bay must have been a particularly favourable locality for 

 observation. It faces south, is sheltered by high land, and behind the terrace 

 of raised beach the old sea-cliff in all probability furnished many dry caves 

 suitable for dwellings. Within a few yards was also a stream of fresh water.' 



As far as the * implements ' are concerned, it must be confessed that a 

 careful examination hardly tends to confirm the theory that their shape is 

 due to human agency. They are so irregular in form, and composed of a 

 material of such an unserviceable character for cutting or piercing, that, for 

 the present at any rate, and until some further evidence is produced, it seems 

 wiser to regard them as naturally shaped blocks of stone. The discovery of 

 roughly constructed hearths and associated charcoal would point, however, to 

 the presence of man. 



Cornwall has furnished numerous neolithic antiquities, in addition to 

 sepulchral deposits, stone circles, and remains of dwellings, which will be 

 dealt with in the present paper. Flakes of flint, of the regular neolithic 

 types, have been found in some abundance in different parts of the county, 

 but flint is by no means the only material employed, greenstone, jadeite, 

 serpentine, aphanite (a species of hornblende rock), and even granite, having 

 been used in the manufacture of celts, axe-heads, and other articles. Some of 

 the objects made of stone, however, such as the perforated axe found in 

 association with a bronze dagger at Pelynt, and a whetstone found with urns 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Sac. lx, 108. The spot has since been covered by a landslide. 



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