EARLY MAN 



purchased by the Royal Institution of Cornwall and are now in the Museum 

 at Truro. They have been described and figured in the Journal 1 published 

 by that institution. 



It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the extraordinary value and 

 archaeological interest of these four specimens of gold ornaments. There 

 is no reasonable doubt now that they were worn on the throat or breast as 

 objects of personal adornment, and were not ornaments for the head as the 

 term diadem would suggest. Whilst met with in some numbers in Ireland, 

 gorgets of this character are very rarely found in England, and are still rarer 

 on the continent of Europe. It is probable that they were all made in 

 Ireland and distributed by the means of commercial intercourse amongst 

 the various countries where they have been found. 



Another extremely important discovery which may be noted at this 

 point was the gold cup found in a barrow at Rillaton in association with a 

 bronze dagger. 2 The cup is 3^ inches high. In a general form it follows 

 pretty closely the shape of a typical earthen drinking-cup of the Bronze 

 Age, and there is no doubt that it is to that period that it may be assigned. 

 The bottom is of small diameter, and the sides in the lower part of the cup 

 swell out to rather more than twice that diameter. Above this there is a 

 slight contraction, which produces a species of waist : the mouth again 

 expands slightly until it reaches a diameter of 3! inches, just the height of 

 the cup. Thirteen raised bands run horizontally round the sides, and four 

 concentric circles are placed round a small conical boss on the bottom. The 

 relative size, position, and ornamentation of the handle are all suggestive of 

 the amber cup found in a Bronze-Age barrow at Hove, Sussex. 



This gold cup at Rillaton was found in association with a bronze 

 dagger (it has been erroneously called a celt). This circumstance, and the 

 general similarity of form to typical Bronze-Age cups in clay, make it 

 pretty clear that the gold cup is a relic of the Bronze Age. 



The following objects in gold have also been found in Cornwall : 



Six armlets found at Carne in Morvah, and now in the British Museum. 



Part of a plain armlet 8 found at Tredinney in Sancreed in 1864, and now 

 in the Museum at Penzance. 



Part of an armlet (or ? brooch) * found near the Lizard in 1824, now in 

 the British Museum. 



A chain about 18 inches long found at West Looe Down, in Talland, 

 about 1806' and now lost. 



In addition to these some ' gold ornaments ' appear to have been found 

 in St. Winnow, 8 but no particulars are recorded, and there is a statement in 

 The Barrow Diggers (1839, p. 72) that a gold celt had been found in 

 Cornwall, but it is of doubtful accuracy. 



BARROWS 



The difficulty of classifying the pre-historic sepulchral remains of 

 Cornwall, and of differentiating burials of the Stone Age from those of the 



1 Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornio. ii, plate opposite page 142. 



1 Ibid, iii, 34 and plate 48. 



5 Trans. Penz. Nat. and Antiq. Sac. (1862-5), 3^ ; Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntn. iii, 46. 



4 Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. iii, 47. 5 Gilbert, Parochial Hist, of Curate, iv, 33. 



' Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. ii (1866), xx. 



357 



