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Stone Age and Bronze Age

The Archaeological Landscape

The route crosses two plateaux divided by a dry valley at Tollgate Junction (A227). Flint blades and microliths (used to make spears and arrows) show that huntergatherers used the area extensively. Neolithic finds (4000 - 2500 BC) include a ground granite hand axe, probably from Cornwall, which demonstrates the farflung contacts of the first farmers. A group of four-post structures found adjacent to a rectangular Neolithic (c3000 BC) enclosure (investigated by CTRL) may have been used as platforms for exposing the dead before burial in the enclosure.

Beaker people, so named after their distinctive pottery, lived close by from c. 2500-1800 BC. A domestic pit containing five broken Beaker pots was found on the western plateau, close to the grave of two Beaker people, which had been found during construction of the adjacent CTRL. The main area of settlement was to the east of Tollgate Junction, where flint tools, Beaker and other early Bronze Age pottery were found.

Bronze Age Enclosures

The earliest lasting settlements were two Bronze Age enclosures. These were found about one and a half kilometres apart, occupying high ground to the west and east of Tollgate Junction. They were small enclosures with deep ditches on the south and west sides and shallower gullies to the east. The eastern enclosure contained little pottery, but dating of the sediments suggests that the ditch was dug around 1500 BC. A possible oval post-ring house, a group of large shallow hollows and a very large posthole, possibly for a totem pole, were found inside this enclosure. Small finds included a selection of flint tools such as arrowheads, knives and scrapers for hide preparation. The western enclosure contained later Bronze Age pottery dating between 1200 and 900 BC and worked bone awls and flint tools, presumably from leather and textile working. There were cremation burials and a fence outside the enclosure, probably belonging to a contemporary cemetery.