roughtor paintworks

to the north-west of roughtor ridge, in open grassy moorland, is a settlement of over 120 hut circles, small enclosures and fragments of field systems. laid out in a broad north-south band, the majority of the round houses are linked by the stony banks of a series of six small irregular enclosures. where there are clear sign of entrances, they tend to face downhill, between the south and west quadrants. limited excavation has produced evidence for at least three phases of occupation during the early and middle bronze age, representing over 1000 years of settlement in the area. considering the absence of extensive tracts of prehistoric fields with these round houses (as seen on other parts of the moor), this settlement probably represents an economy based on stock rearing, possibly involving the seasonal movements of people and livestock between lowland and upland territories (transhumance). the small enclosures probably functioned as corrals, and there may also be small garden plots beside some of the houses for growing a few summer crops.

the start of a painting