EARLY MAN 



the body lay on the right side and in a few on the back. At one place a large 

 number of bones was found thrown together, giving the impression that 

 they had been removed from the graves and collected, perhaps to make room 

 for later interments. The remains were of men, women, and children of 

 various ages, and the general appearances suggested use by a comparatively 

 small number of people through a long space of time rather than by large 

 numbers for a short period. With these remains were found implements of 

 slate, some flint flakes, bronze rings, earrings, bracelets, and fibulae, the latter 

 being very fine. Some of these are thought to date from about the time of 

 the Roman invasion of England, and this is borne out by the fragments of 

 iron, apparently remains of a bracelet, a dagger pommel, and a small hook, 

 which have been recorded. 



Pottery is almost unknown amongst these discoveries, but some spindle 

 whorls and beads have been found. 



The possibility of the existence in this remote part of Cornwall at a 

 comparatively recent date of a people marked off by this curious burial custom, 

 as distinct from any of the previously known occupants of the county, is par- 

 ticularly interesting, and encourages a hope that the excavations at Harlyn 

 Bay may be continued, and that similar discoveries may be made in other 

 parts. There is a record in Drew's History 1 that in 1778 a violent storm 

 shifted a great quantity of sand on the towans in the parish of St. Minver, in 

 consequence of which ' many coffins of slate-stone were discovered which con- 

 tained human bones in large quantities,' and with these * several coins, some 

 rings, and various implements of dress ' ; these coins, it is said, were dated 

 from 1 101 to 1558 A.D., and were preserved by ' Mr. Sandys, the late vicar.' 

 St. Minver is the parish on the other side of the Padstow estuary, and, not far 

 from Harlyn Bay, is equally remote from the main life of the county. It 

 would be most satisfactory, seeing the great likeness of this discovery to the 

 burial ground at Harlyn Bay, if these coins could even now be traced and the 

 accuracy of the account in Drew's History tested. 



UNDERGROUND CHAMBERS 



Under the head of megalithic remains some particulars have already 

 been given of traces of ancient dwellings. 8 They are all built after the same 

 manner, a deep wide trench sunk into the ground or excavated into the side of a 

 small hill or rising land, the sides built up with large stones without mortar, 

 the inside facing of the stone being fairly smooth, forming a not uneven sur- 

 face, and the roof made of long flat slabs of stone laid across from wall to wall, 

 and the whole covered completely with earth. None of them show above the 

 ground level and they are not easy to find. The longest in the county is that 

 at Halligey, 8 near Trelowarren, in Mawgan in Meneage, where the main 

 chamber is 90 ft. long, 3 to 5 ft. in breadth, 6 ft. high in the middle, but lower 

 towards the ends, and the smaller chamber at right angles to the east end of 

 the main chamber is 28 ft. long, 5 ft. 6 in. wide and 6ft. high. 



All those which have been thoroughly explored have been found to have 

 one or more smaller chambers connected with them, the opening between 



1 Drew, op. cit. ii, 495. 



1 The local name is ' Fogou ' or ' Vau.' 



1 Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. viii (1885), 243, with plates ; Arch, xl ; Lysons, op. cit. ccxx. 



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