More information : A fogou opening into the east ditch of what is now recognised as a round (1) was excavated at Treveneague in 1866.
Henderson (a) excavated between 1914 and 1917, locating the site at the south east corner of the first field through which the footpath runs between Treveneague and the junction of the St Erth high road with the lane from Carbis. The blocked-up entrance was 40 yards from the south and east hedges (at about SW 54783301). The field indicated by Henderson does not appear to have been divided in his time as suggested by Clark after his failure to locate the fogou in 1879. When discovered by ploughing in 1866 the 9 feet deep ditch could be traced on three sides, the north being destroyed by quarrying and the bank levelled in earlier years, see plans (3, 4).
The fogou of the same construction as those at Chapel Euny (SW 42 NW 19) and Pendeen Vau (SW 33 NE 1), like the latter having an arched chamber, but cut into the solid clay and not
corbelled.
The passage floor was covered with a thick greasy mould
containing charcoal, animal and bird bones, a granite saddle
quern and an iron bill-hook of La Tene type. The possiblity of
human bones in this layer is mentioned.
A bowl of black polished ware was reconstructed from sherds found, being similar to Glastonbury ware, see illustration 4.
This type of pottery was also found in the ditch.
Henderson's excavations produced 17 varieties of pottery, flint implements, 2 querns and pieces of iron. Medieval pottery has also been found. (1-4)
Timeteam conducted an excavation on this site in 1995 which located an Iron Age fogou at SW 5478 3301 using geophysical survey. Site reports were compiled by Tim Taylor, 1996.(5) |