Cornish Archaeology Online – Cornwall’s Place in the Fascinating Story of Britain’s Earliest Farmers

Alison Sheridan

Cornwall lies in the part of Europe that’s furthest away, in space and time, from the earliest farmers of the Fertile Crescent in the Near East, c. 10,000 BC. It was to take over 6,000 years for farming to reach Cornwall. This lecture explores the fascinating story of how and when an agricultural way of life became established in Cornwall, and what happened to the descendants of Cornwall’s first farmers over the period c. 3800–1500 BC. It will look at the cultural identity of the inhabitants and their patterns of contacts with the wider world during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic (Copper Age), and at the impact made when copper, gold and tin began to be exploited during the Early Bronze Age. It will stray into developments in Devon too, since Cornwall was never cut off from its neighbour and, as far as we know, the ‘butter & cream before or after jam’ debate had not yet commenced!

Bio:

Alison Sheridan is emerita Principal Curator of Early Prehistory and, since her retirement in 2019, Research Associate with National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh, but her research on the Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of Britain and Ireland has included dipping her toe into Cornish archaeology. She is Chair of the Implement Petrology Group (a ‘sister’ organisation to the South West IPG) and her specialist interests include stone axeheads, pottery, and jewellery of jet/jet-like materials, faience, amber and gold.