Cornwall Archaeological Society is an amateur archaeological society based in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

for the study of

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

in Cornwall and the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

. It was founded in 1961 by members of the West Cornwall Field Club.

History

West Cornwall Field Club

The West Cornwall Field Club was founded by

Lt Col Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

F. C. Hirst and six of the volunteers who were excavating a site at

Porthmeor Porthmeor (from kw, Porth Meur, meaning "large cove") is a hamlet that consists of two farms, Higher and Lower Porthmeor, in the parish of Zennor in Cornwall, England. It should not be confused with Porthmeor beach at St Ives. Higher Porthmeor ...

, in the parish of Zennor from 1933 to 1935. Membership increased to nineteen in 1937 and averaged fifty in the 1950s. Between 1953 and 1961 the club produced twenty-seven publications including six field guides and an annual journal, and the club members took part in forty excavations. During the fifties many members lived in mid and east Cornwall and the field club was publishing increasingly more articles from those areas. It was felt that the name no longer relevant to the scope of the field club and at the annual general meeting on 10 August 1961 it was unanimously approved to change the title to Cornwall Archaeological Society.

Cornwall Archaeological Society

The first President of the society was C. A. Ralegh Radford an archaeologist and historian from Devon who specialised in the Dark Ages.

Excavations

The Society has organised a number of excavations. One, considered to be outstanding was at Carn Brea led by

Roger Mercer Roger James Mercer (12 September 1944 – 3 December 2018) was a British archaeologist whose work concentrated on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of the British Isles. Biography Between 1970 and 1973 he led the excavations at Carn Brea in Cornw ...

from 1970 to 1973, which established a new class of site — the

Early Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

tor enclosure A tor enclosure is a prehistoric monument found in the southwestern part of Great Britain. These monuments emerged around 4000 BCE in the early Neolithic. Tor enclosures are large enclosures situated near natural rock outcrops, especially t ...

. * 1962 Castilly

henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...

, near

Lanivet Lanivet ( kw, Lanneves) is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately southwest of Bodmin, and before the Bodmin by-pass was built, the A30 road between London and Land's End passed t ...

* 1963

The Rumps The Rumps ( kw, Din Pentir, meaning ''fort at Pentire'') () is a twin-headland promontory at the north-east corner of Pentire Head in north Cornwall, United Kingdom. The promontory is formed from hard basaltic rock (see also Geology of Cornw ...

* 1964

Carn Euny , alternate_name = , image = CarnEuny1.jpg , alt = Fragments of stone round-houses , caption = Carn Euny ancient village , map_type = Southwest Cornwall , map_alt = , map_size = , location = Brane, Cornwall , region = , coord ...

Publications

The Society publishes a journal ''Cornish Archaeology Hendhyscans Kernow'' in most years. The first was published in 1962 and the latest, number 54, was published in 2015. A newsletter is published three times a year.

List of presidents

The following have served as presidents of the society since its foundation in 1961. * 1961–65 C. A. Ralegh Radford * 1965–68

Martyn Jope Edward Martyn Jope (28 December 1915 – 14 November 1996) was an English archaeologist and chemist. He worked temporarily during the Second World War as a biochemist. Following the war, he returned to working in archaeology, first as ...

* 1968–73

Andrew Saunders Andrew Downing Saunders (22 September 1931 – 13 March 2009) was an internationally recognised expert in artillery fortifications and Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings in England between 1973 and 1989. Early life Andre ...

* 1973–76 Patricia M. Christie * 1976–80

Paul Ashbee Paul Ashbee (23 June 1918 – 19 August 2009) was a leading British archaeologist, noted for his many excavations of barrows, or burial mounds, and for co-directing the Sutton Hoo digs (with Rupert Bruce-Mitford) from 1964 to 1972. He was also pr ...

* 1980–84 G. J. Wainwright * 1984–88 Charles Thomas * 1988–91 Cynthia A. Gaskell-Brown * 1991–94 N. V. Quinnell * 1994–97 Martin Fletcher * 1997–99 Peter Gathercole * 2004–07 Henrietta Quinnell * 2012–15 Valerie Maxwell * 2015–1? Nick Johnson * 201?–present Caroline Dudley

References

External links

Cornwall Archaeology Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwall Archaeological Society History of Cornwall Clubs and societies in Cornwall Archaeological organizations Public archaeology Organizations established in 1961