Excavation of Later Prehistoric and Roman Sites along the Route of the Newquay Strategic Road Corridor, Cornwall

During November and December 2014, Cornwall ArchaeologicalUnit undertook a programme of archaeological excavation in advance ofconstruction of a road corridor to the south of Newquay. Evidence for Middle BronzeAge occupation took the form of a hollow-set roundhouse; however, the majorityof the excavated features have been dated to the Iron Age and Roman periods. The area was enclosed as fields associated with extensive settlement activitythroughout the last centuries cal BC into the third century AD. The excavations revealed the character of settlement-relatedactivity during the later prehistoric and Roman periods. The evidence stronglysuggests growing intensification of agriculture, with ditched fields andenclosures appearing in the landscape from the later Iron Age and into theRoman period. The results shed light on later prehistoric and Romanpractices involving the division of the landscape with ditched fields andenclosed buildings. Many of the structures and pits were found to be set withintheir own ring-ditched enclosures or hollows, and the field system ditches werein some instances marked by 'special' deposits. As has previously beendemonstrated for Middle Bronze Age roundhouses, structures could be subject toformal abandonment processes. Gullies and hollows were deliberately infilled,so that they were no longer visible at surface. However, unlike the abandonedBronze Age roundhouses, the later structures appear to have been flattened andnot monumentalized. In other words, buildings could be both etched into andsubsequently erased from the landscape and thereby forgotten. This volume takes the opportunity presented byinvestigations on the Newquay Strategic Road to discuss the complexity of thearchaeology, review the evidence for 'special' deposits and explore evidencefor the deliberate closure of buildings especially in later prehistoric andRoman period Cornwall. Finally, the possible motives which underlie thesepractices are considered.Includes contributionsby Ryan S Smith, Dana Challinor, Julie Jones, Graeme Kirkham, AnnaLawson-Jones, Henrietta Quinnell and Roger Taylor.