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[1] 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 implements; 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
- ↑ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. lx, 108. The spot has since been covered by a landslide.
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