Publications
Covered Ways on the Sussex Downs, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.C. and Eliot Cecil Curwen, B.A., published 1918 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 59, article, pp.35-75) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2144] & The Keep [LIB/500277] & S.A.S. library View Online
The Earthworks of Rewell Hill, near Arundel, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.C. and Eliot Cecil Curwen, B.A., published 1920 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 61, article, pp.20-30) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2146] & The Keep [LIB/500279] & S.A.S. library View Online
Notes on the Archaeology of Burpham and the Neighbouring Downs, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and Eliot Cecil Curwen, B.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., published 1922 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 63, article, pp.1-53) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2148] & The Keep [LIB/500281] & S.A.S. library View Online
Some Roman Antiquities - Wiston, Chanctonbury and Cissbury, by Eliot Curwen and Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1922 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 63, notes & queries, pp.220-221) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2148] & The Keep [LIB/500281] & S.A.S. library View Online
Sussex Lynchets and their associated Field-Ways, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and Eliot Cecil Curwen, M.A., B.Ch., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., published 1923 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 64, article, pp.1-65) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2149] & The Keep [LIB/500282] & S.A.S. library View Online
Note on the Examination of a Barrow on Glynde Hill, by Bernard Currey, Eliot Curwen and Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1923 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 64, notes & queries, pp.189-190) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2149] & The Keep [LIB/500282] & S.A.S. library View Online
Notes on Inhumation and Cremations on the London Road, Brighton, by Eliot Curwen and Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1923 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 64, notes & queries, pp.191-193) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2149] & The Keep [LIB/500282] & S.A.S. library View Online
Roman Burial in Aldingbourne, by Eliot Curwen and Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1923 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 64, notes & queries, pp.193-194) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2149] & The Keep [LIB/500282] & S.A.S. library View Online
Blackpatch Flint-Mine Excavation, 1922, by C. H. Goodman, Marian Frost, F.L.A., Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and Eliot Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1924 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 65, article, pp.69-111) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2150] & The Keep [LIB/500283] & S.A.S. library
Earthworks and Celtic Road, Binderton, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1925 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 66, article, pp.163-172) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2151] & The Keep [LIB/500284] & S.A.S. library
Two Unrecorded Long Barrows, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1925 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 66, article, pp.173-176) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2151] & The Keep [LIB/500284] & S.A.S. library
Two Wealden Promontory Forts, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1925 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 66, article, pp.177-180) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2151] & The Keep [LIB/500284] & S.A.S. library
Harrow Hill Flint-Mine Excavation 1924-1925, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1926 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 67, article, pp.103-138) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2152] & The Keep [LIB/500285] & S.A.S. library
On the Use of Scapulae as Shovels, by Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1926 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 67, article, pp.139-146) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2152] & The Keep [LIB/500285] & S.A.S. library
Excavations In the Caburn, near Lewes, by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1927 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 68, article, pp.1-56) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2153] & The Keep [LIB/500286] & S.A.S. library
Recent Finds at Bramber Castle., by Frank Duke and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., published 1927 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 68, article, pp.241-244) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2153] & The Keep [LIB/500286] & S.A.S. library
Probable Pressure-Flakers of Antler from Harrow Hill, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1927 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 68, notes & queries, p.273) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2153] & The Keep [LIB/500286] & S.A.S. library
Old People of Mount Caburn, a peep into the past, by E. Cecil Curwen, published 1927 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. I no. 1, article, pp.10-15) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2303][Lib 8326] & The Keep [LIB/500137]
The Old Flint Mines of Sussex, by E. Cecil Curwen, published 1927 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. I no. 4, article, pp.160-163) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2303][Lib 8326] & The Keep [LIB/500137]
Probable Flint Mines near Tolmere Pond, Findon , by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published May 1927 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. I no. 6, note, pp.168-170) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8950] & The Keep [LIB/500203] & S.A.S. library
Ango-Saxon Burial, Portslade, by Eliot Curwen and E. Cecil Curwen, published May 1927 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. I no. 6, note, p.186) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8950] & The Keep [LIB/500203] & S.A.S. library
Recent Finds Off the Sussex Coast , by E. Cecil Curwen, published May 1927 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. I no. 6, note, p.190) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8950] & The Keep [LIB/500203] & S.A.S. library
Buckland Bank Circus and Village Site , by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published November 1927 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. I no. 8, article, pp.244-246) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8950] & The Keep [LIB/500203] & S.A.S. library
Ancient Cemetery in Buckland Hole and Bracken Fern , by Eliot Curwen and E. C. Curwen, published November 1927 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. I no. 8, note, pp.250-251) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8950] & The Keep [LIB/500203] & S.A.S. library
The Antiquities of Windover Hill, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., published 1928 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 69, article, pp.93-102) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2154] & The Keep [LIB/500287] & S.A.S. library
Earthworks in Gobblestubbs Copse, Arundel, by Eliot Curwen and E. Cecil Curwen, published 1928 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 69, notes & queries, p.223) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2154] & The Keep [LIB/500287] & S.A.S. library
The "Long Man" of Wilmington, by S.C.M. Contributor(s) and Cecil Curwen, published 1928 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. II no. 11, article, pp.497-499) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 9327] & The Keep [LIB/500138]
The Angmering Roman Villa and the Brighton Drove Road, by E. C. Curwen, published May 1928 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. II no. 2, note, pp.48-50) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8951] & The Keep [LIB/500204] & S.A.S. library
Neolithic Road, Bow Hill , by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1928 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. II no. 3, note, pp.80-81) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8951] & The Keep [LIB/500204] & S.A.S. library
The Lavant Caves, Chichester , by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1928 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. II no. 3, note, p.81) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8951] & The Keep [LIB/500204] & S.A.S. library
Prehistoric Sussex, by Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1929 (London: The London: Homeland Association) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8948] & The Keep [LIB/506724] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Review in Sussex Notes and Queries, August 1929:Among those who in recent years have studied our Sussex earthworks, none have been more assiduous and successful than the Drs. Curwen, father and son, and now Dr. E. Cecil Curwen in this book, dedicated with filial affection to his father, has brought together the results of their work - correlated with that of others in the same field - in a connected survey of prehistoric times. It is an excellent piece of work, thorough and exact, but not too technical for the general reader, and the author's efforts to recall something of the life and manners of the people give a human interest to the story. Dr. Curwen's style is pleasant - but his occasional gibes at immemorial practices of the Church are apt to offend.
After a general description of the geographical features of the Downland area, with which the book mainly deals, we have an interesting chapter on Neolithic Flint Mines, giving evidence of an organised industry for the production of flint implements as early as 2000 B.C. Passing then to " Burial Mounds " the author mentions the eight Long Barrows (the only examples so far recognised in Sussex), associated with the Neolithic period. Reference to the more numerous Round Barrows of the Bronze Age and later periods leads to a summary of Mr. Allcroft's conclusions in regard to the continuity of idea between barrows and the churchyards of more modern days, as fully described in his "The Circle and the Cross." A chapter on Hill Forts deals with such well-known camps as the Caburn, Cissbury and the Trundle near Goodwood and White Hawk, Brighton. A valuable feature is the list, at the end of each chapter, of examples of the particular kind of earthwork dealt with, arranged according to districts, which show the wealth of material in the County.
We are not sure that Dr. Curwen is on quite such safe ground when he leaves the earthworks of the Downs - where he is unassailable - and comes to consider the lesser roads in the lowlands and their relation to medieval manors. It is questionable whether sufficient weight is given to the possibility of the lay out of Roman roads having influenced the site and arrangements of the Saxon manors, and the need for roads in medieval times seems to be unduly minimised. Although Dr. Curwen uses the term "The Weald" in a wider sense than usual, surely it must be an error to describe the "covered way" on Willingdon Hill (p.123) as leading into the Weald.
The clear instructions in the concluding chapter on the Detection and Mapping of Earthworks should be of great use to those - and there ought to be many - who after reading this book are inclined to pursue the fascinating study of Field Archaeology. The book is well illustrated by drawings and air-photographs, there is a good index, and the printing and general get up are a credit to all concerned.
After a general description of the geographical features of the Downland area, with which the book mainly deals, we have an interesting chapter on Neolithic Flint Mines, giving evidence of an organised industry for the production of flint implements as early as 2000 B.C. Passing then to " Burial Mounds " the author mentions the eight Long Barrows (the only examples so far recognised in Sussex), associated with the Neolithic period. Reference to the more numerous Round Barrows of the Bronze Age and later periods leads to a summary of Mr. Allcroft's conclusions in regard to the continuity of idea between barrows and the churchyards of more modern days, as fully described in his "The Circle and the Cross." A chapter on Hill Forts deals with such well-known camps as the Caburn, Cissbury and the Trundle near Goodwood and White Hawk, Brighton. A valuable feature is the list, at the end of each chapter, of examples of the particular kind of earthwork dealt with, arranged according to districts, which show the wealth of material in the County.
We are not sure that Dr. Curwen is on quite such safe ground when he leaves the earthworks of the Downs - where he is unassailable - and comes to consider the lesser roads in the lowlands and their relation to medieval manors. It is questionable whether sufficient weight is given to the possibility of the lay out of Roman roads having influenced the site and arrangements of the Saxon manors, and the need for roads in medieval times seems to be unduly minimised. Although Dr. Curwen uses the term "The Weald" in a wider sense than usual, surely it must be an error to describe the "covered way" on Willingdon Hill (p.123) as leading into the Weald.
The clear instructions in the concluding chapter on the Detection and Mapping of Earthworks should be of great use to those - and there ought to be many - who after reading this book are inclined to pursue the fascinating study of Field Archaeology. The book is well illustrated by drawings and air-photographs, there is a good index, and the printing and general get up are a credit to all concerned.
Excavations in the Trundle, Goodwood 1928, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published 1929 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 70, article, pp.33-85) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2155] & The Keep [LIB/500359] & S.A.S. library
Neolithic Camp, Combe Hill, Jevington, by E. Cecil Curwen, published 1929 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 70, notes & queries, pp.209-211) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2155] & The Keep [LIB/500359] & S.A.S. library
Sussex and King Arthur, by E. Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published 1929 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. III no. 11, article, pp.752-753) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2307] & The Keep [LIB/500140]
The Date of Saxonbury Camp , by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1929 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. II no. 7, note, pp.216-217) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8951] & The Keep [LIB/500204] & S.A.S. library
Air-photography and economic history, by Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1930 (London: Economic History Society)
Wolstonbury, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published 1930 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 71, article, pp.237-245) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2156] & The Keep [LIB/500358] & S.A.S. library
Lynchet Burials near Lewes, by Eliot Curwen and E. Cecil Curwen, published 1930 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 71, notes & queries, pp.254-257) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2156] & The Keep [LIB/500358] & S.A.S. library
Thundersbarrow Hill, by Eliot Curwen and E. Cecil Curwen, published 1930 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 71, notes & queries, pp.258-259) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2156] & The Keep [LIB/500358] & S.A.S. library
Sussex from the Air. 1 - Thundersbarrow Hill, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1930 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IV no. 7, article, pp.567-575) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2308][Lib 2309] & The Keep [LIB/500173]
Sussex from the Air. 2 - Whitehawk Camp, Brighton, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1930 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IV no. 8, article, pp.678-682) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2308][Lib 2309] & The Keep [LIB/500173]
Sussex from the Air. 3 - Wolstonbury & 4 - Chanctonbury and The Weald, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1930 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IV no. 9, article, pp.754-759) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2308][Lib 2309] & The Keep [LIB/500173]
Sussex from the Air. 5 - Arundel, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1930 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IV no. 10, article, pp.862-870) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2308][Lib 2309] & The Keep [LIB/500173]
Sussex from the Air. 6 - The Sussex Coast, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1930 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IV no. 11, article, pp.948-955) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2308][Lib 2309] & The Keep [LIB/500173]
Sussex from the Air. 7 - Prehistoric Cultivations, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1930 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. IV no. 12, article, pp.1052-1059) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2308][Lib 2309] & The Keep [LIB/500173]
Human Remains recently discovered near the Dyke , by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1930 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. III no. 3, note, pp.87-89) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8952][Lib 8221] & The Keep [LIB/500205] & S.A.S. library
Excavations at Cissbury, by E.C. Curwen, published 1931 in Antiquity (vol. 11, article, pp.14-36)
Excavations in the Trundle, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published 1931 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 72, article, pp.100-150) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2157] & The Keep [LIB/500357] & S.A.S. library
The Caburn. Its Date, and a Fresh Find, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published 1931 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 72, article, pp.151-156) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2157] & The Keep [LIB/500357] & S.A.S. library
Sussex from the Air. 8 - The First Cities, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 1, article, pp.56-63) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]
Sussex from the Air. 9 - Some Hill Forts, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 2, article, pp.130-137) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]
Sussex from the Air. 10 - The Water Supply of Hill-Forts, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published 1931 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. V no. 3, article, pp.212-219) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2310] & The Keep [LIB/500174]
The Date of Cissbury Camp, by E. Cecil Curwen and R. P. Williamson, published January 1931 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 11 issue 1, article, pp.14-36) View Online
Abstract:The hill-fort of Cissbury, situated on a ridge of the Sussex Downs four miles north of Worthing, is one of the best known examples of its kind, though in regard to the strength of its defences it can scarcely be compared with such Wessex forts as Maiden Castle (Dorchester), Hambledon, Yarnbury, or Battlesbury.
Excavations at Hollingbury, by E. Cecil Curwen, published May 1931 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. III no. 6, article, p.187) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8952][Lib 8221] & The Keep [LIB/500205] & S.A.S. library
St Roche's Chapel, Goodwood , by E. Cecil Curwen, published May 1931 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. III no. 6, article, pp.187-188) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8952][Lib 8221] & The Keep [LIB/500205] & S.A.S. library
Whitehawk Neolithic Camp, Brighton , by E. Cecil Curwen, published May 1931 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. III no. 6, article, pp.188-189) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8952][Lib 8221] & The Keep [LIB/500205] & S.A.S. library
Saxon Interment near Portslade , by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1931 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. III no. 7, article, pp.214-215) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8952][Lib 8221] & The Keep [LIB/500205] & S.A.S. library
Excavations at Hollingbury Camp, Sussex, by E. Cecil Curwen, published January 1932 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 12 issue 1, article, pp.1-16) View Online
Abstract:The examination of the prehistoric hill-fort known as Hollingbury was undertaken during March and April, 1931, by the Brighton and Hove Archaeological Club, with the permission of the Brighton Corporation and with the sanction of Mr. B. H. Maclaren, Superintendent of Parks and Gardens. We also have to express our great gratitude to those Societies and individuals whose generous contributions made the undertaking possible, and to others who rendered valuable help by their own labour.
Human Remains at the Dyke , by E. Cecil Curwen, published February 1932 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IV no. 1, article, pp.7-8) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2203][Lib 8222][Lib 8861] & The Keep [LIB/500206] & S.A.S. library
An Agricultural Settlement on Charleston Brow, near Firle Beacon, by W. J. Parsons and Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published 1933 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 74, article, pp.164-180) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2159] & The Keep [LIB/500355] & S.A.S. library
A Beaker Skeleton from Goodwood , by Eliot Curwen, M.A., M.B, B.Ch., F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published August 1933 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IV no. 7, article, pp.195-197) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2203][Lib 8222][Lib 8861] & The Keep [LIB/500206] & S.A.S. library
A Late Bronze Age Farm and a Neolithic Pit-Dwelling, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published 1934 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 75, article, pp.137-170) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2160] & The Keep [LIB/500354] & S.A.S. library
A Prehistoric Site in Kingley Vale, near Chichester, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published 1934 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 75, article, pp.209-216) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2160] & The Keep [LIB/500354] & S.A.S. library
A flint-miner?s dwelling and a Bronze Age farm in Sussex, by E.C. Curwen, published June 1934 in Antiquity (vol. 8, no. 30, article, pp.215-216)
On New Barn Down, a spur of Harrow Hill, near Worthing
A Saxon hut site at Thakeham, Sussex, by Eliot Curwen and E. Cecil Curwen, published October 1934 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 14, issue 4, article, pp.425-426) View Online
Two Beakers and an Early Iron Age Urn, by Eliot Curwen, F.S.A. and Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published 1935 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 76, article, pp.1-6) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2161] & The Keep [LIB/500353] & S.A.S. library
Late Bronze Age lynchet-settlements on Plumpton Plain, Sussex, by G. A. Holleyman and E. Cecil Curwen, published January 1935 in The Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society (vol. 1, article, pp.16-38) View Online
Abstract:Plumpton plain is situated on the top of the South Downs, roughly 600 feet above sea level, six miles north-east of Brighton and four miles north-west of Lewes (fig. 1). From its western end a broad spur slopes gently southwards from the northern escarpment of the Downs, lying between Moustone Valley on the south-east and Faulkners Bottom on the west. Most of this Downland is covered with a dense scrub of gorse, thorn and bramble, and with large patches of bracken and heather. A series of broad paths running roughly at right angles with one another has been cut through this vegetation to facilitate the preservation of game. Along the main ridge of the spur running north and south is a broad gallop which, at a height of 600 feet O.D., passes through a group of earthworks situated 1500 feet from the north edge of the Downs and 2300 feet east of Streathill Farm. This group was the primary object of bur investigations and will be referred to as Site A (fig. 2).
Site B (fig. 3) lies a quarter of a mile to the south-east of Site A on a small lateral spur jutting between the twin heads of Moustone Bottom. The only visible evidence of prehistoric occupation was a quantity of coarse gritty sherds and calcined flints on the surface to the south-east of a low bank and ditch which runs across the spur.
Several groups of lynchets enclosing square Celtic fields are to be seen in the neighbourhood of these two sites. They lie principally to the south-east of Site A and to the south of Site B.
Site B (fig. 3) lies a quarter of a mile to the south-east of Site A on a small lateral spur jutting between the twin heads of Moustone Bottom. The only visible evidence of prehistoric occupation was a quantity of coarse gritty sherds and calcined flints on the surface to the south-east of a low bank and ditch which runs across the spur.
Several groups of lynchets enclosing square Celtic fields are to be seen in the neighbourhood of these two sites. They lie principally to the south-east of Site A and to the south of Site B.
Excavations in Whitehawk Camp, Brighton, Third Season, 1935, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published 1936 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 77, article, pp.60-92) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2162] & The Keep [LIB/500352] & S.A.S. library
Non-Crescentic Sickle-Flints from Sussex, by E. Cecil Curwen, published January 1936 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 16 issue 1, article, pp.85-90) View Online
Abstract:The view that diffuse lustre on the sharp edge of a flint indicates that the flint has been used for cutting corn, or at least grass, has often been put forward. It has recently been criticized by M. René Neuville, and these criticisms have been countered by fresh experimental evidence which has convinced the writer that this interpretation holds good. Flint flakes, some worked, some apparently unworked, are frequently found in Egypt, Palestine, and elsewhere, bearing diffuse lustre on both faces adjacent to one or more edges, and such flakes are generally recognized as having served as parts of flint sickles, for some have actually been found in their wooden mounts. The possibility of analogous implements having been used in Britain has not so far received much attention, except that the beautifully worked crescentic 'knives' of Scandinavian type are now generally recognized as having been sickles. A few of these latter show the characteristic corn-lustre on their concave edges.
The Archaeology of Sussex, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published 1937 (xviii + 338 pp., London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 15996] & East Sussex Libraries
Review by A. Smith Woodward in Sussex Notes and Queries, February 1937:Dr. Cecil Curwen has contributed so much to our knowledge of prehistoric Sussex, that we welcome his new volume in the series of County Archaeologies, which is devoted chiefly to pre-Roman remains. It is based largely on researches in which he himself has taken part, or on earlier work which his independent personal observations have enabled him to appraise. He leaves little space for the relics of the Roman occupation, and for a few antiquities of doubtful age which he relegates to a chapter headed "Limbo". He does well to omit all reference to the Saxon period, which would have curtailed too much his valuable account of the earlier phases of life in the county.
Dr. Curwen's book is admirably written to interest the general reader, and has many features - such as the quotations in chapter headings - which will captivate. He illustrates and explains the discoveries in Sussex by frequent references to corresponding finds elsewhere, and to customs which are not familiar. He also provides ample drawings and photographs which are noteworthy for their excellence; and he adds a useful series of small maps of the county, showing the geographical distribution of the known remains of different periods. Nor is he unmindful of the specialist and the reader who will be led to go further, for he gives in footnotes numerous references to the papers and separate works in which the original descriptions and detailed information will be found.
After some important preliminary observations, Dr. Curwen proceeds to describe and discuss the Sussex evidence of the primeval hunters and food-gatherers of Palaeolithic times. He enlists the aid of Mr. Reid Moir, who furnishes the material for a table of correlation of the Pleistocene deposits of Sussex, and adds some interesting remarks on the discoveries at Piltdown. It appears that no undoubted late Palaeolithic implements have hitherto been found in Sussex, but Mesolithic flints are widely spread, sometimes in rock shelters. The late Mr. Lewis Abbott found many of these flints in a "kitchen-midden" below Hastings Castle, but Dr. Curwen points out that none of the pottery in this deposit can be earlier than the Iron Age, while some is mediaeval, so that the accumulation is of various dates.
The dawn of civilisation was reached in Neolithic times, which are represented in Sussex by camps, dwelling places, long barrows, and flint mines. Dr. Curwen remarks that too many of the hill forts have been described as Neolithic camps on insufficient evidence, and only four have hitherto been satisfactorily identified in Sussex. Twelve long barrows are known on the chalk downs, but there are no stone chambers or dolmens. If the barrows were originally chambered, wood may have been used as in a long barrow lately explored in Lincolnshire. There seems to be no longer any doubt as to the Neolithic date of the flint mines, the supposed palaeoliths being really neoliths in process of manufacture.
After a special discussion of the flint implements, Dr. Curwen concludes that the finest of them were probably made and used in the early part of the Bronze Age. This age seems to have lasted in Britain from about 2000 to 500 B.C., and is noteworthy for the beginning of agriculture which can be studied in settlements on the downs. Nearly a thousand round barrows or burial mounds of the period have been identified in Sussex, chiefly on the Downs, and they have yielded a valuable series of urns and implements of various kinds. Still more important are the hoards of bronze implements, of which tabulated lists are given.
With the Iron Age comes evidence of the first cities; and Cissbury, the Caburn, and other sites are well described. Dr. Curwen then adds a concise technical chapter on the development of pottery, by which the late Bronze Age and the successive phases of the Iron Age are distinguished. Next follows an equally concise account of Roman Sussex, which is well up to date like the rest of the book, and includes the results of Mr. I. D. Margary's studies on the Roman roads. Among the subjects in "Limbo" is the Long Man of Wilmington, which is said to be very ancient but of uncertain date.
Dr. Curwen has spared no pains in verifying the facts and consulting the original sources, and he has used for the first time the valuable MS. diary of Dr. Gideon A. Mantell, of which Dr. Eliot Curwen has given a copy to the library of the Sussex Archaeological Society in Lewes. It is sad to note how many of the older finds have been lost, but gratifying to learn how carefully everything of importance is now preserved. Dr. Curwen is indeed to be congratulated on having produced a most valuable and inspiring work which will foster both discovery and preservation.
Dr. Curwen's book is admirably written to interest the general reader, and has many features - such as the quotations in chapter headings - which will captivate. He illustrates and explains the discoveries in Sussex by frequent references to corresponding finds elsewhere, and to customs which are not familiar. He also provides ample drawings and photographs which are noteworthy for their excellence; and he adds a useful series of small maps of the county, showing the geographical distribution of the known remains of different periods. Nor is he unmindful of the specialist and the reader who will be led to go further, for he gives in footnotes numerous references to the papers and separate works in which the original descriptions and detailed information will be found.
After some important preliminary observations, Dr. Curwen proceeds to describe and discuss the Sussex evidence of the primeval hunters and food-gatherers of Palaeolithic times. He enlists the aid of Mr. Reid Moir, who furnishes the material for a table of correlation of the Pleistocene deposits of Sussex, and adds some interesting remarks on the discoveries at Piltdown. It appears that no undoubted late Palaeolithic implements have hitherto been found in Sussex, but Mesolithic flints are widely spread, sometimes in rock shelters. The late Mr. Lewis Abbott found many of these flints in a "kitchen-midden" below Hastings Castle, but Dr. Curwen points out that none of the pottery in this deposit can be earlier than the Iron Age, while some is mediaeval, so that the accumulation is of various dates.
The dawn of civilisation was reached in Neolithic times, which are represented in Sussex by camps, dwelling places, long barrows, and flint mines. Dr. Curwen remarks that too many of the hill forts have been described as Neolithic camps on insufficient evidence, and only four have hitherto been satisfactorily identified in Sussex. Twelve long barrows are known on the chalk downs, but there are no stone chambers or dolmens. If the barrows were originally chambered, wood may have been used as in a long barrow lately explored in Lincolnshire. There seems to be no longer any doubt as to the Neolithic date of the flint mines, the supposed palaeoliths being really neoliths in process of manufacture.
After a special discussion of the flint implements, Dr. Curwen concludes that the finest of them were probably made and used in the early part of the Bronze Age. This age seems to have lasted in Britain from about 2000 to 500 B.C., and is noteworthy for the beginning of agriculture which can be studied in settlements on the downs. Nearly a thousand round barrows or burial mounds of the period have been identified in Sussex, chiefly on the Downs, and they have yielded a valuable series of urns and implements of various kinds. Still more important are the hoards of bronze implements, of which tabulated lists are given.
With the Iron Age comes evidence of the first cities; and Cissbury, the Caburn, and other sites are well described. Dr. Curwen then adds a concise technical chapter on the development of pottery, by which the late Bronze Age and the successive phases of the Iron Age are distinguished. Next follows an equally concise account of Roman Sussex, which is well up to date like the rest of the book, and includes the results of Mr. I. D. Margary's studies on the Roman roads. Among the subjects in "Limbo" is the Long Man of Wilmington, which is said to be very ancient but of uncertain date.
Dr. Curwen has spared no pains in verifying the facts and consulting the original sources, and he has used for the first time the valuable MS. diary of Dr. Gideon A. Mantell, of which Dr. Eliot Curwen has given a copy to the library of the Sussex Archaeological Society in Lewes. It is sad to note how many of the older finds have been lost, but gratifying to learn how carefully everything of importance is now preserved. Dr. Curwen is indeed to be congratulated on having produced a most valuable and inspiring work which will foster both discovery and preservation.
The relation of the coombe rock to the 135-ft. raised beach at Slindon, Sussex, by Kenneth P. Oakley, B.Sc., F.G.S. and E. C. Curwen, M.A., M.B., B.Ch., F.S.A., published 1937 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 48 issue 4, article, pp.317-323) View Online
Abstract:The so-called 100-ft. Raised Beach of the Sussex coast comprises marine sands amI shingle resting at heights varying from 80 to 135 feet above O.D., and can be traced almost continuously between Chichester and Arundel. Various parts of it have been described by Prestwich (1859, 1892), Clement Reid (1892, 1903) and Osborne White (1924), but the most comprehensive account is that of Fowler (1932). The beach has generally been treated as an indivisible unit, but recently archaeological evidence has been brought forward (Calkin, 1935) to show that the deposits at 80-90 feet above O.D. at AIdingbourne Park are older than those at Slindon Park. which attain an altitude of 135 feet above O.D. There is consequently some justification for distinguishing a 90-ft. Beach and a 135-ft. Beach. Taken together, they appear to mark the period of rising baselevel which caused prolonged aggradation of the rivers in Southern England during Clactonian-Middle Acheulian times (i.e.. the "100 ft. Terrace aggradation").
Stane Street on Gumber Down, by Eliot Curwen, F.S.A. and E. Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published February 1937 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VI no. 5, article, pp.134-136) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12537][Lib 8863][Lib 8224] & The Keep [LIB/500208] & S.A.S. library
Crop Marks on Stoughton Down , by E. Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published February 1937 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VI no. 5, article, pp.139-140) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12537][Lib 8863][Lib 8224] & The Keep [LIB/500208] & S.A.S. library
The Tegdown Barrow, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published November 1937 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VI no. 8, article, pp.225-227) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12537][Lib 8863][Lib 8224] & The Keep [LIB/500208] & S.A.S. library
Late Bronze Age Ditches at Selmeston, by Eliot Curwen and E. Cecil Curwen, published 1938 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 79, article, pp.195-198) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/500350] & S.A.S. library
The Journal of Gideon Mantell: A Sussex Doctor and Geologist a Century Ago, edited by E. Cecil Curwen, M.B., F.S.A., published 1938 in Sussex County Magazine (vol. XII no. 1, article, pp.20-25; no. 2, pp.100-104; no. 3, pp.159-164; no. 4, pp.257-259; no. 5, pp.298-303; no. 6, pp.380-388; no. 7, pp.461-465; no. 8, pp.535-540; no. 9, pp.614-622; no. 10, pp.668-673; no. 11, pp.754-761; no. 12, pp.810-818) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2317] & The Keep [LIB/500183]
The Society's Museum, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published May 1938 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VII no. 2, article, pp.35-37) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12536][Lib 8864][Lib 2206] & The Keep [LIB/500209] & S.A.S. library
A Type 'A' Beaker from Park Brow, Sompting, by E. Cecil Curwen, published May 1938 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VII no. 2, note, pp.58-59) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12536][Lib 8864][Lib 2206] & The Keep [LIB/500209] & S.A.S. library
A Sickle-flint from near Rye, Sussex, by Dr. E. Cecil Curwen, published July 1938 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 18 issue 3, note, pp.278-279) View Online
Sickle Flint [at Beckley], by E. Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published November 1938 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VII no. 4, note, p.122) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 12536][Lib 8864][Lib 2206] & The Keep [LIB/500209] & S.A.S. library
The Iron Age in Sussex, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published 1939 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 80, article, pp.214-216) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2165] & The Keep [LIB/500349] & S.A.S. library
The Journal of Gideon Mantell, Surgeon and Geologist. Covering the Years 1818-1852, edited by Eliot Cecil Curwen, published 1940 (xii + 315 pp., London: Oxford University Press) accessible at: The Keep [LIB/503531] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Mesolithic and Bronze Age Flints at Westham, Pevensey, by C. E. C. [E. C. Curwen] - H. B. [H. Burton], published May 1940 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VIII no. 2, article, pp.43-44) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8865][Lib 2207] & The Keep [LIB/500210] & S.A.S. library
Iron Age Pottery and Graphite Schist at Westham, by C. E. C. [E. C. Curwen] - H. B. [H. Burton], published November 1940 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VIII no. 4, article, pp.111-112) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8865][Lib 2207] & The Keep [LIB/500210] & S.A.S. library
Perforated Rim-lugs from Friston, Sussex, by Dr. Eliot Curwen and Dr. E. Cecil Curwen, published January 1941 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 21 issue 1, note, pp.62-64) View Online
A Flint Sickle from Beddingham Hill, by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1941 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. VIII no. 7, article, p.189) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8865][Lib 2207] & The Keep [LIB/500210] & S.A.S. library
An Eel-Spear from Lewes, by E. Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published November 1942 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IX no. 4, article, pp.81-82) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8227][Lib 2208] & The Keep [LIB/500211] & S.A.S. library
An Early Medical Certificate, by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1943 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IX no. 7, note, pp.157-158) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8227][Lib 2208] & The Keep [LIB/500211] & S.A.S. library
Roman Lead Cistern from Pulborough, Sussex, by Dr. E. Cecil Curwen, published October 1943 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 23 issue 3-4, note, pp.155-157) View Online
A First Century Brooch, by Eliot Curwen, F.S.A., published November 1943 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IX no. 8, article, p.171) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8227][Lib 2208] & The Keep [LIB/500211] & S.A.S. library
Flints and Pot at Wetham, by C. E. C. [E. C. Curwen] - H. Burton, published November 1943 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. IX no. 8, article, pp.173-174) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8227][Lib 2208] & The Keep [LIB/500211] & S.A.S. library
A Roman Lead Cistern from Lickfold, Pulborough , by E. Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published February 1944 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. X no. 1, article, pp.1-2) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8228][Lib 2209] & The Keep [LIB/500212] & S.A.S. library
The Burgh of Shermanbury , by E. Cecil Curwen, F.S.A., published August 1944 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. X no. 3, article, pp.49-51) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8228][Lib 2209] & The Keep [LIB/500212] & S.A.S. library
Twelfth Century Burials at Sutton, Seaford, by E. Cecil Curwen, published August 1944 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. X no. 3, note, p.67) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8228][Lib 2209] & The Keep [LIB/500212] & S.A.S. library
Plough and Pasture, by E. Cecil Curwen, published 1946 (122 pp., London: Cobbett Press) accessible at: East Sussex Libraries
Review by A. E. [Arundell Esdaile] in Sussex Notes and Queries, February 1947:The South Downs bear so many traces of prehistoric agriculture that it is not for nothing that the acknowledged authority on the subject should be one of our members. But it ranges, if not exactly from China to Peru, at least over all the most ancient human habitations of the world, and over millennia which are indeed by comparison with the period of human life on the globe a watch in the night, yet are long enough.
This vast and fascinating subject, of which the details as discovered are recorded in specialist archaeological and scientific periodicals, Mr. Curwen makes lucid in 120 pages. The steps of advance, and their bearing on present day life, he makes astonishingly clear. As a mere feat of compression and sense of proportion and significance, it is a notable achievement.
Man has eaten bread in the sweat of his brow for possibly no more than ten thousand years. Before that he may have cut wild grain-bearing grasses (Emmer and Einkorn mostly) with flint sickles. But one day, perhaps near the Lake of Galilee, some unused grain was thrown out on to broken ground, where it grew; the next summer it was reaped and the process was deliberately repeated. The step was thus taken which was to lead man to where he stands to-day, when by multiplication and by rape of the good earth he has made many deserts, but has progressively used the abundance of corn which can be exchanged for goods and services to free him to live other lives than that of the cultivator, who merely raises food for himself and his family. In this freedom is the origin of all culture; yet, divorced from the soil, culture withers. Our civilisation (to give it that dignified name) is largely urban and industrial, and food production is industrialised in the sense that it exists .not for home consumption but for trade, to feed urban men in return for urban goods. But in this later stratum of culture appear here and there its predecessors as outcrops, the peasant culture and (more rarely, as the Eskimos) the earliest of all, the food gathering culture.
It was probably in other places than the homes of the first grain-sowers, among nomads, that the principle of breeding domesticated animals, goat, sheep and ox, was first applied; and it was probably long before stock breeding and corn growing were combined, the surplus grain feeding the stock and the stock (especially the oxen, which were found to help the man by drawing his digging stick or plough) by manuring the land. Here, too, primitive tools are still found in use, like outcrops of a buried stratum. Thus the hand quern is still in use in the Shetlands - though in 1814 Sir Walter Scott saw, and later described in his Pirate, the "miserable molendinaries," the numerous vertical rotary water driven mills used there. Mr. Curwen shews how the nature of the plough and the size of the team regulated the shape of the field, oval for the digging stick, short and square for two oxen, to give them a breather at the headland, long for four or eight. And all these types of field may be seen in the lynchet-bounded Downland field or the remains of the open field of the feudal manor.
The tools themselves, sickles, digging-sticks, ards (the earliest plough, surviving in Italy), ploughs, grain rubbers, hand-querns, primitive mills, survive in enough specimens to shew the path which agriculture has taken. To them no doubt will in time be added tractors as objects of archaeological research, though rust will have done on them what time has not done on the flint-headed digging-stick or the flint-sickle with the gloss left on it by the silica in the grasses it cut so long ago.
The remarkable lucidity and interest of this book are much helped by the many plates and figures.
This vast and fascinating subject, of which the details as discovered are recorded in specialist archaeological and scientific periodicals, Mr. Curwen makes lucid in 120 pages. The steps of advance, and their bearing on present day life, he makes astonishingly clear. As a mere feat of compression and sense of proportion and significance, it is a notable achievement.
Man has eaten bread in the sweat of his brow for possibly no more than ten thousand years. Before that he may have cut wild grain-bearing grasses (Emmer and Einkorn mostly) with flint sickles. But one day, perhaps near the Lake of Galilee, some unused grain was thrown out on to broken ground, where it grew; the next summer it was reaped and the process was deliberately repeated. The step was thus taken which was to lead man to where he stands to-day, when by multiplication and by rape of the good earth he has made many deserts, but has progressively used the abundance of corn which can be exchanged for goods and services to free him to live other lives than that of the cultivator, who merely raises food for himself and his family. In this freedom is the origin of all culture; yet, divorced from the soil, culture withers. Our civilisation (to give it that dignified name) is largely urban and industrial, and food production is industrialised in the sense that it exists .not for home consumption but for trade, to feed urban men in return for urban goods. But in this later stratum of culture appear here and there its predecessors as outcrops, the peasant culture and (more rarely, as the Eskimos) the earliest of all, the food gathering culture.
It was probably in other places than the homes of the first grain-sowers, among nomads, that the principle of breeding domesticated animals, goat, sheep and ox, was first applied; and it was probably long before stock breeding and corn growing were combined, the surplus grain feeding the stock and the stock (especially the oxen, which were found to help the man by drawing his digging stick or plough) by manuring the land. Here, too, primitive tools are still found in use, like outcrops of a buried stratum. Thus the hand quern is still in use in the Shetlands - though in 1814 Sir Walter Scott saw, and later described in his Pirate, the "miserable molendinaries," the numerous vertical rotary water driven mills used there. Mr. Curwen shews how the nature of the plough and the size of the team regulated the shape of the field, oval for the digging stick, short and square for two oxen, to give them a breather at the headland, long for four or eight. And all these types of field may be seen in the lynchet-bounded Downland field or the remains of the open field of the feudal manor.
The tools themselves, sickles, digging-sticks, ards (the earliest plough, surviving in Italy), ploughs, grain rubbers, hand-querns, primitive mills, survive in enough specimens to shew the path which agriculture has taken. To them no doubt will in time be added tractors as objects of archaeological research, though rust will have done on them what time has not done on the flint-headed digging-stick or the flint-sickle with the gloss left on it by the silica in the grasses it cut so long ago.
The remarkable lucidity and interest of this book are much helped by the many plates and figures.
The Prehistoric Collections, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published 1946 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 85, article, pp.93-98) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2170] & The Keep [LIB/500344] & S.A.S. library
A Romano-British Occupation Site at Portfield Gravel Pit, Chichester, by Eliot Cecil Curwen and Sheppard Frere, published 1947 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 86, article, pp.137-140) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2171] & The Keep [LIB/500343] & S.A.S. library
A Palaeolith from the Chichester Gravels, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., F.S.A., published February 1947 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XI no. 5, article, pp.99-101) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8229][Lib 2210] & The Keep [LIB/500213] & S.A.S. library
A Bronze Cauldron from Sompting, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published February 1948 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XII no. 1, article, pp.9-11) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8230] & The Keep [LIB/500214] & S.A.S. library
Fragment of a Bronze Cauldron from Ditchling, by E. Cecil Curwen, M.A., M.B., F.S.A., published February 1948 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XII no. 1, article, pp.11-12) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8230] & The Keep [LIB/500214] & S.A.S. library
Old Timbered Road-Surface at Bolney, by E. Cecil Curwen, published February 1948 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XII no. 1, note, pp.16-17) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8230] & The Keep [LIB/500214] & S.A.S. library
A Bronze Cauldron from Sompting, Sussex, by E. Cecil Curwen, published October 1948 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 28 issue 3-4, article, pp.157-163) View Online
Abstract:During the autumn of 1946 a hoard of bronzes was discovered during excavation for foundations in the bottom of a down-land valley in the parish of Sompting, near Worthing. The site is a point approximately 300 ft. north-east of Hill Barn and 1,500 ft. south-west of the south-west edge of Lancing Ring, and is on property belonging to Hill Barn Nurseries. The bronzes were unearthed by a mechanical excavator at a depth of about 5 ft. in a valley-bottom accumulation of brown clayey mould. How much of this material is natural hill-wash and how much the result of cultivation of the valley in ancient and modern times it would be difficult to say. The depth at which the bronzes were found suggests that some of the soil may have been ploughed down into the valley bottom at a later period.
A sickle-flint from Seaford, Sussex, by Dr. E. Cecil Curwen, published October 1949 in The Antiquaries Journal (vol. 29 issue 3-4, note, pp.192-195) View Online
Two Sickle-Flints from Seaford, by E. Cecil Curwen, published May 1952 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XIII nos. 9 & 10, article, p.197) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8231] & The Keep [LIB/500215] & S.A.S. library
The Archaeology of Sussex, by E. Cecil Curwen, published 1954 (2nd revised edition, 330 pp., London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 69] & West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Review by A. E. [Arundell Esdaile] in Sussex Notes and Queries, May 1956:In the seventeen years that have passed since the first edition of this book appeared, and even more in the twenty-five since the publication of the author's seminal work, Prehistoric Sussex, a long series of excavations has been carried out along the seaboard and Downlands of Sussex, largely by or for the Society and its affiliated bodies under archaeologists, whom to name would be invidious, inspired by the work of Dr. Curwen and his distinguished father. The book has been skilfully revised and brought up to date, without much disturbance of the text and illustrations of 1937. The footnotes, which abound in references to the Society's and other publications of the forties and fifties, form an easy guide to the revisions and additions. For example, we have accounts, inter alia, after Burstow's work on the Bronze Age site on Itford Hill and of Dr. A. E. Wilson's recent work at Chichester. While the book was in proof Dr. Curwen was able to record the startling recent exposure of the Piltdown forgery.
With the Iron Age, with which unfortunately the book had to conclude, we get out of prehistory into history, even before the Romans came. For example, we have the tin-copper coins from the Caburn. These barbaric copies of Gaulish coins, originating at Massilia, bear a head and a bull. Dr. Curwen suggests that the head represents Apollo; but may we not infer from the bull that it rather represents that other sun-god, dear to the Roman legions, Mithras? The present writer is no prehistorian - indeed so little of one that it is only now that his belief, acquired in school days at Lancing, that dewponds are prehistoric, was a delusion, and that they are not to be dated earlier than the eighteenth century. So it is with great hesitation that he offers the suggestion above.
To the Iron Age belongs the network of Roman roads from the coast and over the Weald, which Mr. Margary has done so much to map out. Dr. Curwen gives a clear, though necessarily brief, resume of Mr. Margary's conclusions.
The wartime activities of tanks, and the even more drastic post war effects of bulldozers, will make future archaeological work difficult, especially on the Downs, where prehistoric habitations were thickest. But they may provide fresh problems for the archaeologists of the thirtieth century.
With the Iron Age, with which unfortunately the book had to conclude, we get out of prehistory into history, even before the Romans came. For example, we have the tin-copper coins from the Caburn. These barbaric copies of Gaulish coins, originating at Massilia, bear a head and a bull. Dr. Curwen suggests that the head represents Apollo; but may we not infer from the bull that it rather represents that other sun-god, dear to the Roman legions, Mithras? The present writer is no prehistorian - indeed so little of one that it is only now that his belief, acquired in school days at Lancing, that dewponds are prehistoric, was a delusion, and that they are not to be dated earlier than the eighteenth century. So it is with great hesitation that he offers the suggestion above.
To the Iron Age belongs the network of Roman roads from the coast and over the Weald, which Mr. Margary has done so much to map out. Dr. Curwen gives a clear, though necessarily brief, resume of Mr. Margary's conclusions.
The wartime activities of tanks, and the even more drastic post war effects of bulldozers, will make future archaeological work difficult, especially on the Downs, where prehistoric habitations were thickest. But they may provide fresh problems for the archaeologists of the thirtieth century.
Sherd of Terra Rubra from Stoughton, by E. Cecil Curwen, published November 1955 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XIV nos. 7 & 8, note, p.133) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8232][Lib 2213] & The Keep [LIB/500216] & S.A.S. library
A Saxon Mint at Cissbury, by E. Cecil Curwen, published November 1959 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XV no. 4, note, pp.134-135) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8233] & The Keep [LIB/500217] & S.A.S. library
The Diamond Jubilee of the Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society, by E. Cecil Curwen, O.B.E., F.S.A., published November 1966 in Sussex Notes & Queries (vol. XVI no. 8, article, pp.261-264) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 8234] & The Keep [LIB/500218] & S.A.S. library