The excavation of an Iron Age site at Nansledan, Newquay, Cornwall

An archaeological excavation by AC archaeology on land at Nansledan, Newquay, revealed an Earlier Iron Age circular enclosure 17m in diameter with causeways in the east and west. There was no evidence for its use and a ritual function is proposed. After a hiatus, in the Later Iron Age the enclosure became the focus of activity comprising a gully and post-built structure around a hollow containing pits and a hearth which contained sherds of imported Roman amphora. To the south of the enclosure and contemporary with the activity within it was a ring gully enclosing a stony spread. Elsewhere postholes indicated the position of a possible rectangular structure and a four-post structure. The finds and environmental remains indicate that the activity was probably domestic in character, although the structures are unusual and consideration of a special purpose for the Later Iron Age activity is entertained. A sequence of boundary ditches forming fields spanned the period of the Iron Age activity