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What's
Around Geevor
| West
Penwith has witnessed human occupation over a period of perhaps
6000 years, and, not surprisingly, has a rich wealth of archaeological
remains as evidence. The oldest structures are the tombs
which are now represented by barrows and so-called quoits
(chambered tombs) of the Neolithic Era. During this period
the area, and indeed |
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the British
Isles, was a different
place owing to a much lower sea level. Mounts Bay was then forested
and the Scilly Islands a range of hills.
Mounts Bay was not in fact inundated until about 2000BC. The structures
that these people left behind range in size from the 15m diameter
of Lanyon Quoit to over 50m at Ballowall Barrow and Chapel Carn
Brea.
Towards the end of the Neolithic era, bronze - the first alloy of
metals used by man -came into use. We know little about the process
by which bronze - an alloy of tin and copper - was developed and
many fascinating archaeological discoveries will no doubt be made
in the future. The old notion that a race of continental immigrants
called the 'Beaker people' introduced the new technology is now questioned
- it seems that in areas like Cornwall, where tin and copper occurred,
the discovery was made by local people.
The dividing line between Neolithic and Bronze Age is not defined
as the stone-using cultures continued for some time, with the Bronze
Age beginning at about 2100BC. The most famous artefacts of this
period are the stone circles, of which West Penwith has five more
or less complete, one being part of an original row of three. Many
others have doubtless disappeared over the years. Many Cornish circles
carry the name Merry Maidens, possibly of Christian origin but possibly
also coming from the Cornish medn, or stones. Their original purpose
is now lost to us, although the time and effort required to construct
them would suggest some ceremonial or ritual use. The true Bronze
Age began about 1900BC and a trade in metal quickly commenced with
the Mediterranean.
Around the middle of the second millennium the Bronze Age Wessex
Culture appears to have collapsed. This may have had two causes:
the change in climate, which became cooler and wetter, and the loss
of trading partners in the Mediterranean following the eruption of
the island of Thera. It is quite possible that these two causes are
linked. Improved farming techniques later in the period allowed the
formation of permanent settlements which we see now as hut circles.
The first iron-using group known in Cornwall is the Iron Age A or
Halstatt culture, however it is the B or La Tene culture which is
more important. Known as Keltoi, Galatians and Gauls they are now
known by the collective noun Celts. Cornwall was just a small part
of a culture which spread north-westwards from the Alps. It is thought
that many hill forts in West Penwith date from this period are were
constructed to guard the mining areas. It was during this time that
Pytheas made his remarkable circumnavigation of the British Isles,
visiting Cornwall en route and commented so well on the people he
met there. The home port of Pytheas, Marsila (Marseilles) was then
at the western edge of the Greek empire and part of the customer
base of the tinners.
The large amount of building work carried out during the Iron Age
can be seen in the hill forts, the so-called cliff castles and
villages of courtyard houses. The enigmatic fogous also date from
this period.
The Roman
invasion of Britain in 56BC made little mark on Cornwall, and it
was only after the spread of Christianity through the Roman settlers
and the departure of the Romans that changes can be seen in Cornwall.
Following the departure of the Romans the country was left open
to invasion by just about every race in north-west Europe, arriving
in waves generally from the east and working their way west. It
was
only in the 6th century AD that a brief respite from the invasions
took place when a Romano-Briton called Aurelius Ambrosius became
general-in-chief. His successors also inflicted heavy defeats on
the invaders; one of these legendary victories took place at Vellan-druchar
against a force of Danes who had landed at Gwynver Beach, near
Sennen. This small invasion may even have started the chain of
bonfires on the
hills
of the county, still carried out at midsummer.
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