Of the most distinctive but very interesting finds were small rounded granite balls which were found in all contexts during The Big Dig.
There were so many of them that after some time it was clear that we could only collect a representative sample. These are typically round - the sizes of ping pong balls although much harder of course and made of granite! On average these are 400mm in diameter and weigh 100 g. These became nicknamed noisettes or Ferrero Rocher balls by the team on account of their size and their knobbly shapes which reminded us of these posh chocolates! Our geologist, Colin Bristow, couldn’t provide geological explanations for them, but he did suggest that because of their consistent size they could have been deliberately collected and brought to the quoit. So its possible that these well have been brought to the quoit and left behind as tokens by visitors throughout prehistory. Ultimately they may well have become embedded into the fabric of the monument – some were set into the stone pavement.
A modern day (Christian) analogy would be like the leaving of flowers or personal trinkets at the resting places of departed loved ones, or even perhaps the “prayer stones” left by mourners at key places of remembrance (as in Jewish mourning traditions). All this evidence points to the primary commemorative role of Carwynnen Quoit over 5-6,000 years ago, and its major purpose as a community monument: conceived, built, maintained and remembered by, and for, the prehistoric communities who once lived in the immediate landscape.
