SOIL REPORT ON CARN BREA, REDRUTH, CORNWALL: WITH SOME REFERENCE TO SIMILAR SITES IN BRITTANY, FRANCE.
Author(s): R I Macphail
A trench section through the outermost (3rd) rampart of the Neolithic fort of Carn Brea, Redruth, Cornwall, was examined in the field and in the laboratory. Two long thin sections and six bulk samples (analysed for grain size, organic matter, iron and soil nutrients) were studied from the buried soil. By the Neolithic, an acid brown soil had developed on a parent material consisting of granite and loess. Similar soils had also formed on similar parent materials in Brittany, France, by the Neolithic, a period which is well documented by environmental data from buried soils. At Carn Brea, it is possible that Neolithic clearances and continued local activity caused the upper horizons of the acid brown soil to become podzolised by the time the soil was buried, a maximum period of 300 years. The surface horizons of the podzol were disturbed just before burial, seemingly by the clearance and burning of a dominantly herbaceous vegetation. Comparisons are made with instances of clearance of open vegetation by Neolithic peoples in Brittany ahead of monument construction, in areas previously cleared of forest and used for arable cultivation. The report is supported by twelve colour plates and two tables.
- Report Number:
- 55/1990
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 32
- Keywords:
- Soil/Sediment
