Neolithic Pottery Production in Cornwall

Second, they provide a minimum age for the Neolithic ploughmarks on the site [4]. These are associated with a phase of forest clearance. As similar evidence [5] has been obtained from the Windmill Hill Long Barrow, 3240 & 150 BC (BM-180) [6], and Wayland's Smithy (date above) it appears that forest clearance was taking place on the Chalk of North Wiltshire and Berkshire early in the 3rd millennium BC. Third, the dates provide a maximum age for an assemblage of Middle Neolithic pottery stratified in the upper levels of the primary fill of the ditches. This is of Ebbsfleet/Mortlake tradition. Its stratigraphical position makes it unlikely that its age is significantly younger than the dates quoted. These can be compared with dates for similar assemblages from Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, 2570 f 150 BC (BM-74) [7] and from Northfleet, Kent, 2710 f 150 BC (BM-113) [S]. Finally, the dates provide a comparison of three kinds of sample material-charcoal, bone and antlerwhich were stratigraphically contemporary. Only the protein fractions of the bone and antler were used [9]. The dates are indistinguishable within the limits of their probable errors.