THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE NEOLITHIC VILLAGE AT CISSBURY

Copyright Valerie Martin 2008

First published in Sussex Local in May 2008

Rough sketch of the area of the site (click on the image to enlarge)

Can you imagine the time of Abraham when it was written that he led his nomadic life in Canaan?    It may stretch your imagination and seem rather far-fetched but this was about the time that the flint miners on the Findon downland were actively employed and their industry was in full swing manufacturing axes and the like.  

Let us jump a few centuries... to the twentieth century.    The chalk ridge which stretches along the eastern side of the Findon valley and  parallel to the High Salvington escarpment, was described as long ago as 1935 by John Pull, the archaeologist, as the site of a village in prehistoric days.   This ridge, which forms the southward projecting spur of Cissbury Ring, is known to us as Mount Carvey. .    

In the 1930s, Hugh Richard Penfold Wyatt of the Cissbury Estate owned this ploughed arable land and was a keen collector of flint implements and he amassed a large amount of worked stones.   He also noted that the majority of his findings appeared to be picked up from Mount Carvey.    This is how the previously unknown Stone Age settlement came to light at Cissbury in 1935.

   click on image to enlarge

The view from Findon Valley towards Mount Carvey in January 2008

The site of this Mount Carvey Village (as I will continue to call it from now on for identification purposes) lies parallel with the Offington-Cissbury green way track traversing the summit.   Subsequent surveys revealed a number of fascinating circular hut sites, which sprawl in a rough straggling type of "village street" for about a quarter of a mile.

What other evidence have we been left?  To begin with, there are quite a few clues.   At the north extremity of this line of dwellings a large well-marked depression was discovered which could have been a possible pond. 

Half way along the hut alignment a concentrated area of burnt stones was found, marking the communal fire that the villagers would have shared and kept burning in the same spot for many years.   One can perhaps imagine the ancient tribe huddled around the embers and looking across the darkening sky to the Neolithic community on the opposite side of the valley at High Salvington.    The glow of the High Salvington communal fire would just be seen against the skyline.

What did these ancient people look like?   Most likely shorter in stature than today's local inhabitants of our area and perhaps of darker appearance.  

Needless to say, many flint implements and chippings have been found over the decades distributed throughout the Mount Carvey Village site.   These were mostly abundant around the faintly visible saucer-shaped ancient foundations of the homesteads.    Flint implements were undoubtedly, therefore, manufactured on this Stone Age industrial site.  

The sound of chipping would have echoed across the valley and the result of the workers' labours was a large assortment of fine tools and small implements.   These included axe heads, arrow heads, borers, scrapers, planes and saws.   If you pick up a sharp flint from the hillside today and run your finger along the edge you will soon find out how surprisingly sharp it can be.   The antiquities discovered indicated that the Mount Carvey Village was occupied in those far off days when metal was unheard of.

I do not know whether the villagers were connected with the mining actually on the summit of Cissbury Ring but it seems highly probable.

click on image to enlarge

The view from Mount Carvey in January 2008 - slightly different from Neolithic times.... but the contours would have been the same

In absolutely every respect the Mount Carvey community is similar to the one at High Salvington.    The antiquities found upon the Cissbury site indicate that it was occupied when people were at the same stage of development and possessed more or less the same habits and culture as those displayed by their their neighbours over the valley.

I wonder if the Neolithic valley was an inhospitable mire with misty coombes and impenetrable swamp?   If not, I am sure that the Mount Carvey inhabitants  wandered across the valley floor to say "Good morning" and maybe the younger inhabitants "got together".   To read about the community on the opposite side of the valley, click on The Neolithic Village above Findon at High Salvington.

Oh yes, and I must mention that Mount Carvey is today no longer cultivated and is covered with rough herbage and wild downland and is inhabited only by an occasional flock of sheep.

Continue if you would like to read about Dave Rammell's Cissbury Discoveries

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.