A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



Excavations 3 and 4 yielded charcoal but no pottery. Sling-stones were found in nearly all 

 the excavations, and some of these were battered and broken as if by impact. 



The interior of the camp is studded with small round stumps of stone of about 4 to 5 ft. 

 in diameter, and these are continued over the north slope of the hill, where they are dotted about 

 in dozens. Several of them were examined both inside and outside the camp, and were found to be 

 little heaps of stones placed on the grass surface. No information could be obtained regarding 

 them, and their occurrence is inexplicable. No metal of any kind was observed in any of the 

 excavations. 



The ornamentation of the pottery is similar to that of the Bronze Age, and the sherds appeared 

 to be portions of a hand-made vessel. But as we now know that the style of ornamentation 

 usually associated with the period of bronze survived down to the Prehistoric Iron Age, and as 

 rudely made vessels which may apparently be described as ' hand-made ' were also in use at the 

 same time as wheel-made pots, it is not safe to assume that the pottery found on the floors of the 

 hut or shelter sites in Cranbrook Castle indicates that this defensive place appertained to the Bronze 

 Age ; in fact the quern and the elaborate system of fortification on the southern portion of the 

 camp favour the assumption that it was erected and occupied not earlier than during the Prehistoric 

 Iron Age. The discovery of the remains of iron objects would have settled this doubt, but, as 

 previously stated, no metal of any kind was seen. 



SiDBURY Castle. — A hoard of sling-stones was found here in March, 1864.^ They were 

 found in a cavity which was situated on the outside slope of the inner rampart, and would have 

 filled one or two wheelbarrows. 



High Peak. — Relics have also been found in and about the remains of a camp which 

 formerly existed at High Peak about i^ miles west of Sidmouth. ** The eroding action of the 

 sea has practically caused it to disappear. The Rev. R. Kirwan and Mr. P. O. Hutchinson 

 found some thirty-three years since that only a small portion remained, and that the falls of the cliff 

 — the site of the camp was some 500 ft. above sea level — had exposed a kitchen midden, which 

 yielded much charcoal, bones of hog, deer, and ox, sling-stones, flint chips, and cores, rude bone 

 implements, and potsherds, both hand and wheel-made. Some of the sherds were plain, others 

 were ornamented with incised lines made with a toothed instrument, some had circular indented 

 lines and bands impressed upon the clay before firing and others had raised hoop-like marks or 

 ridges formed either by the hand or by the wheel. All this domestic debris was presumed to be the 

 accumulation of the dwellers in the camp. If this assumption be correct it indicates a prolonged 

 occupancy. 



There is again evidence of the overlapping of the hand-made Bronze Age type of vessels with 

 the wheel-made pots, and of the continuation of the earlier form of ornamentation with that 

 described as ' Circular indented lines,' a characteristic of the Prehistoric Iron Age. 



AsHBURTON. — A spindle-whorl was found in the wall of Boro Wood Camp, near Ashburton. ' 



It will be observed that all the graves which have been examined 

 indicate cremation ; in fact there are no reliable records of carnal interments 

 in Devonshire barrows. It is possible that such may yet be discovered, for a 

 contracted interment was found in a kistvaen in Sheviock parish, just over 

 the border in Cornwall. In this kistvaen was a small urn similar to the 

 pottery of the Bronze Age period. From the examination elsewhere of 

 osseous remains of the people of this period, it is evident that their skulls 

 were generally broader than those of the Neolithic folk who were at home in 

 Devonshire when these Celtic roundheads arrived. These first Celtic invaders 

 overran the fertile and temperate portions of Britain, dispossessing the Neo- 

 lithic people, who retired to less favoured districts, or remained and gradually 

 blended with the conquering race. 



Sir John Evans is of opinion that the Bronze Age in Britain commenced 

 about 1200 to 1400 B.C. and continued down to about 500 B.C. To this 

 period must be assigned the dawn of decorative art. Weapons, implements, 

 and vessels of daily use were more effective and of greater variety and 

 symmetry, and were often ornamented in a lavish and comparatively elegant 

 manner. 



* Tram. Devon. Assoc, ii, 376. ' Ibid, iv, 647-651. 



' Ibid, vi, 263. 



366 



