DOCSLIB.ORG

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monume

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monume Article Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monument, Kent Wysocki, Michael Peter, Griffiths, Seren, Hedges, Robert, Bayliss, Alex, Higham, Tom, Fernandez-Jalvo, Yolanda and Whittle, Alasdair Available at http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/10742/ Wysocki, Michael Peter, Griffiths, Seren, Hedges, Robert, Bayliss, Alex, Higham, Tom, Fernandez-Jalvo, Yolanda and Whittle, Alasdair (2013) Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monument, Kent. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 79 . pp. 61-90. ISSN 0079-497X It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2013.10 For more information about UCLan’s research in this area go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/researchgroups/ and search for <name of research Group>. For information about Research generally at UCLan please go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/ All outputs in CLoK are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including Copyright law. Copyright, IPR and Moral Rights for the works on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the policies page. CLoK Central Lancashire online Knowledge www.clok.uclan.ac.uk Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society http://journals.cambridge.org/PPR Additional services for Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society: Email alerts: Click here Subscriptions: Click here Commercial reprints: Click here Terms of use : Click here Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monument, Kent Michael Wysocki, Seren Griffiths, Robert Hedges, Alex Bayliss, Tom Higham, Yolanda Fernandez­Jalvo and Alasdair Whittle Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society / FirstView Article / July 2013, pp 1 ­ 30 DOI: 10.1017/ppr.2013.10, Published online: 17 July 2013 Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0079497X13000108 How to cite this article: Michael Wysocki, Seren Griffiths, Robert Hedges, Alex Bayliss, Tom Higham, Yolanda Fernandez­Jalvo and Alasdair Whittle Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monument, Kent. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Available on CJO 2013 doi:10.1017/ppr.2013.10 Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/PPR, IP address: 193.61.255.86 on 13 Aug 2013 Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 79, 2013, pp. 1–30 & Cambridge University Press doi:10.1017/ppr.2013.10 Dates, Diet, and Dismemberment: Evidence from the Coldrum Megalithic Monument, Kent By MICHAEL WYSOCKI1, SEREN GRIFFITHS2, ROBERT HEDGES3, ALEX BAYLISS4, TOM HIGHAM3, YOLANDA FERNANDEZ-JALVO5 and ALASDAIR WHITTLE2 We present radiocarbon dates, stable isotope data, and osteological analysis of the remains of a minimum of 17 individuals deposited in the western part of the burial chamber at Coldrum, Kent. This is one of the Medway group of megalithic monuments – sites with shared architectural motifs and no very close parallels elsewhere in Britain – whose location has been seen as important in terms of the origins of Neolithic material culture and practices in Britain. The osteological analysis identified the largest assemblage of cut-marked human bone yet reported from a British early Neolithic chambered tomb; these modifications were probably undertaken as part of burial practices. The stable isotope dataset shows very enriched d15N values, the causes of which are not entirely clear, but could include consumption of freshwater fish resources. Bayesian statistical modelling of the radiocarbon dates demonstrates that Coldrum is an early example of a British Neolithic burial monument, though the tomb was perhaps not part of the earliest Neolithic evidence in the Greater Thames Estuary. The site was probably initiated after the first appearance of other early Neolithic regional phenomena including an inhumation burial, early Neolithic pottery and a characteristic early Neolithic post-and-slot structure, and perhaps of Neolithic flint extraction in the Sussex mines. Coldrum is the only site in the Medway monument group to have samples which have been radiocarbon dated, and is important both for regional studies of the early Neolithic and wider narratives of the processes, timing, and tempo of Neolithisation across Britain. Keywords: early Neolithic, megalithic monument, human remains, radiocarbon dates, Bayesian statistics, cut-marks Coldrum is one of the Medway group of megalithic through the North Downs (Fig. 1). The monuments monuments (Alexander 1959; 1962; Ashbee 1993; lie in two clusters along the southern scarp of the 2000; 2005; Barber 2004; Bennett 1913; Bewley et al. North Downs, east and west of the Medway, with 2004; Clarke 1982; Daniel 1950; Evans 1950; Holgate both good access to the river and one of the lowest 1981; Jessup 1970): nine constructions apparently fords over the river, a natural crossing at Aylesford grouped around the river Medway, Kent, as it cuts (Jessup 1970, 95). Together with Addington long barrow (Jessup 1970) and Chestnuts (Alexander 1 1962), Coldrum forms the eastern group, while the School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, University of more poorly preserved western group, some 8–10 km Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 2HE, UK 2Department of Archaeology and Conservation, Cardiff distant, includes Kit’s Coty (Fig. 1). Other early University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff, Neolithic sites in close proximity include the post- CF10 3EU, UK and-slot structures at White Horse Stone and Pilgrim’s 3Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Way (Glass 2000; Hayden & Stafford 2006; Garwood Art, University of Oxford, Dyson Perrins Building, South 2011; Booth et al. 2011; cf. Ashbee 2005). Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK The Medway monuments appear geographically 4English Heritage, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138–42 Holborn, London, EC1N 2ST, UK isolated from larger groups of early Neolithic monu- 5Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Jose´ Gutie´rrez ments such as those in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain and the Cotswold-Severn region. The group does 1 THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY Fig. 1. The location of Coldrum and other Medway Neolithic monuments 2 M. Wysocki et al. DATES, DIET, & DISMEMBERMENT: COLDRUM MEGALITHIC MONUMENT, KENT share some defining architectural motifs, which sarsens is located at the east end. The monument sits have no very close parallels elsewhere in Britain and on the edge of a terrace, with collapsed sarsens which suggest regional cohesion: massive rectangular located at its foot (Evans 1950, 74; Jessup 1970, chambers in the eastern end of mounds, chambers 108). The chamber was divided into east and west compartmentalised with medial stones, and rectangular compartments by orthostats, possibly forming a port- mounds with peristaliths (Holgate 1981; Kinnes 1992; hole entrance; these had collapsed or been removed by 2004; cf. Ashbee 1993; 2005, 112; Jessup 1970, 111). the 1890s (Bennett 1913). However, as with other regional groupings, such as the Costwold-Severn tombs, there are also idiosyn- cracies and diversity: the rectilinear shape at HISTORY OF ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH, EXCAVATION, Coldrum, the fac¸ade at Chestnuts, and the long thin AND THE ARCHIVE mounds at Addington and Kit’s Coty House. As the The earliest existing plans are found in the mid-19th only dated site – and the only site likely to be dated century Beale Post manuscript, which also records (see below) – Coldrum plays an important role in that two ‘sculls’ were recovered from the site in 1804 understanding the development of regional Neolithic and 1825 (Evans 1949, 132, 137; Ashbee 1998, 2). burial practices, though without further scientific Human remains were removed at intervals until 1893 dating the relationships of these sites within such (Bennett 1913; Evans 1950). traditions will remain a matter for speculation. In 1910, the geologist and antiquary F.J. Bennett Origins or influences have been suggested from sources surveyed the monument, and excavated the appar- including Scandinavia (Daniel 1950), Germany (Evans ently undisturbed western part of the chamber, simply 1950), and the Low Countries (Piggott 1935), though digging down to recover human skeletal remains it is to be noted that those discussions belonged to an from two levels or ‘platforms’ (Bennett 1913; Ashbee era with different chronologies to those available 1998, 20–2; Figs 2–3). Plans and sections from this today. Jessup (1970) and Holgate (1981, 230–1) excavation were drawn by E.W. Filkins. A single emphasised the strategic position of Kent as ‘a leading potsherd, recovered from the surface, and identified reception centre for continental imports, immigrants as plain Neolithic A ware by Piggottt (1931, 93), was and visitors throughout the Neolithic’. No obvious later reliably reclassified as Anglo-Saxon, and is now single precedents can be identified. The geograph- missing (Giles Guthrie, pers. comm.). ically closest continental monuments, for example at Bennett (1913, 81) recovered two skulls, teeth and We´ris in eastern Belgium, while bearing some general bone, rude pottery, and a flint saw on ‘platform 1’, a similarity in terms of box-like chambers, belong to level identified in the north-west corner of the late Neolithic traditions of the late 4th and into the chamber and close to the south wall, the few stone 3rd millennia cal BC (Toussaint 2003; Toussaint et al. slabs suggesting to him some sort of paved
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Medway Megaliths and Neolithic Kent
    http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society THE MEDWAY MEGALITHS AND NEOLITHIC KENT* ROBIN HOLGATE, B.Sc. INTRODUCTION The Medway megaliths constitute a geographically well-defined group of this Neolithic site-type1 and are the only megalithic group in eastern England. Previous accounts of these monuments2 have largely been devoted to their morphology and origins; a study in- corporating current trends in British megalithic studies is therefore long overdue. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITISH MEGALITHIC STUDIES Until the late 1960s, megalithic chambered barrows and cairns were considered to have functioned purely as tombs: they were the burial vaults and funerary monuments for people living in the fourth and third millennia B.C. The first academic studies of these monuments therefore concentrated on the typological analysis of their plans. This method of analysis, though, has often produced incorrect in- terpretations: without excavation it is often impossible to reconstruct the sequence of development and original appearance for a large number of megaliths. In addition, plan-typology disregards other aspects related to them, for example constructional * I am indebted to Peter Drewett for reading and commenting on a first draft of this article; naturally I take responsibility for all the views expressed. 1 G.E. Daniel, The Prehistoric Chamber Tombs of England and Wales, Cambridge, 1950, 12. 2 Daniel, op. cit; J.H. Evans, 'Kentish Megalith Types', Arch. Cant, Ixiii (1950), 63-81; R.F. Jessup, South-East England, London, 1970. 221 THE MEDWAY MEGALITHS GRAVESEND. ROCHESTER CHATHAM r>v.-5rt AYLESFORD MAIDSTONE Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • The Origins of Avebury 2 1,* 2 2 Q13 Q2mark Gillings , Joshua Pollard & Kris Strutt 4 5 6 the Avebury Henge Is One of the Famous Mega
    1 The origins of Avebury 2 1,* 2 2 Q13 Q2Mark Gillings , Joshua Pollard & Kris Strutt 4 5 6 The Avebury henge is one of the famous mega- 7 lithic monuments of the European Neolithic, Research 8 yet much remains unknown about the detail 9 and chronology of its construction. Here, the 10 results of a new geophysical survey and 11 re-examination of earlier excavation records 12 illuminate the earliest beginnings of the 13 monument. The authors suggest that Ave- ’ 14 bury s Southern Inner Circle was constructed 15 to memorialise and monumentalise the site ‘ ’ 16 of a much earlier foundational house. The fi 17 signi cance here resides in the way that traces 18 of dwelling may take on special social and his- 19 torical value, leading to their marking and 20 commemoration through major acts of monu- 21 ment building. 22 23 Keywords: Britain, Avebury, Neolithic, megalithic, memory 24 25 26 Introduction 27 28 Alongside Stonehenge, the passage graves of the Boyne Valley and the Carnac alignments, the 29 Avebury henge is one of the pre-eminent megalithic monuments of the European Neolithic. ’ 30 Its 420m-diameter earthwork encloses the world s largest stone circle. This in turn encloses — — 31 two smaller yet still vast megalithic circles each approximately 100m in diameter and 32 complex internal stone settings (Figure 1). Avenues of paired standing stones lead from 33 two of its four entrances, together extending for approximately 3.5km and linking with 34 other monumental constructions. Avebury sits within the centre of a landscape rich in 35 later Neolithic monuments, including Silbury Hill and the West Kennet palisade enclosures 36 (Smith 1965; Pollard & Reynolds 2002; Gillings & Pollard 2004).
    [Show full text]
  • The Medway Valley Prehistoric Landscapes Project
    AST NUMBER 72 November 2012 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY Registered Office University College London, Institute of Archaeology, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/ PTHE MEDWAY VALLEY PREHISTORIC LANDSCAPES PROJECT The Early Neolithic megalithic monuments of the Medway valley in Kent have a long history of speculative antiquarian and archaeological enquiry. Their widely-assumed importance for understanding the earliest agricultural societies in Britain, despite how little is really known about them, probably stems from the fact that they represent the south-easternmost group of megalithic sites in the British Isles and have figured - usually in passing - in most accounts of Neolithic monumentality since Stukeley drew Kit’s Coty House in 1722. Remarkably, this distinctive group of monuments and other major sites (such as Burham causewayed enclosure) have not previously been subject to a Kit’s Coty House: integrated laser scan and ground-penetrating landscape-scale programme of investigation, while the radar survey of the east end of the monument only significant excavation of a megalithic site in the region took place over 50 years ago (by Alexander at the The Medway Valley Project aims to establish a new Chestnuts in 1957). The relative neglect of the area, and interpretative framework for the Neolithic archaeology its research potential, have been thrown into sharper of the Medway valley, focusing on the architectural relief recently by the discovery of two Early Neolithic forms, chronologies and use-histories of monuments, long halls nearby at White Horse Stone/Pilgrim’s Way and changes in environment and inhabitation during the on the High Speed 1 route, and by the radiocarbon period c.
    [Show full text]
  • Neolithic Report
    RESEARCH DEPARTMENT REPORT SERIES no. 29-2011 ISSN 1749-8775 REVIEW OF ANIMAL REMAINS FROM THE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN (4000 BC – 1500 BC) ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES REPORT Dale Serjeantson ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Department Report Series 29-2011 REVIEW OF ANIMAL REMAINS FROM THE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE OF SOUTHERN BRITAIN (4000 BC – 1500 BC) Dale Serjeantson © English Heritage ISSN 1749-8775 The Research Department Report Series, incorporates reports from all the specialist teams within the English Heritage Research Department: Archaeological Science; Archaeological Archives; Historic Interiors Research and Conservation; Archaeological Projects; Aerial Survey and Investigation; Archaeological Survey and Investigation; Architectural Investigation; Imaging, Graphics and Survey; and the Survey of London. It replaces the former Centre for Archaeology Reports Series, the Archaeological Investigation Report Series, and the Architectural Investigation Report Series. Many of these are interim reports which make available the results of specialist investigations in advance of full publication. They are not usually subject to external refereeing, and their conclusions may sometimes have to be modified in the light of information not available at the time of the investigation. Where no final project report is available, readers are advised to consult the author before citing these reports in any publication. Opinions expressed in Research Department Reports are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of English Heritage. Requests for further hard copies, after the initial print run, can be made by emailing: [email protected]. or by writing to English Heritage, Fort Cumberland, Fort Cumberland Road, Eastney, Portsmouth PO4 9LD Please note that a charge will be made to cover printing and postage.
    [Show full text]
  • Aylesford to Maidstone Walk
    Saturday Walkers Club www.walkingclub.org.uk Aylesford to Maidstone walk Ancient sites and a fine viewpoint on Kent's North Downs Length Main Walk: 19 km (11.8 miles). Four hours 45 minutes walking time. For the whole excursion including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 9½ hours. Circular Walk, returning to Aylesford: 17½ km (10.9 miles). Four hours 20 minutes walking time. OS Map Explorer 148. Aylesford, map reference TQ720587, is in Kent, 5 km NW of Maidstone. Toughness 5 out of 10. Features Although only a small village on the banks of the River Medway, Aylesford has a long history. In this area there are neolithic burial sites, memorials to battles from the Roman and Anglo-Saxon eras, a medieval bridge and many ancient buildings. There are also reminders of brick, tile and cement manufacturing, paper mills and quarrying, but many of these old industrial sites are being redeveloped for housing and the only significant blot on the landscape is a large paper recycling plant across the river in Snodland. Aylesford station is 1 km from the village centre and the walk starts with a fine view across the river to The Friars, a Carmelite priory which was dissolved by HenryⅧ and used as a private residence until the main house burnt down in the 20thC. The site was then bought back by the Carmelites and restored to its former use; it is open to the public daily (free entry) except on Christmas week. The route crosses the river on a new road bridge for a picture-postcard view of the village's medieval bridge and other historic buildings.
    [Show full text]
  • Events, Processes and Changing Worldviews from the Thirty-Eighth to the Thirty-Fourth Centuries Cal
    Article Building for the Dead: Events, Processes and Changing Worldviews from the Thirty-eighth to the Thirty- fourth Centuries cal. BC in Southern Britain Wysocki, Michael Peter, Barclay, A, Bayliss, A, Whittle, A and Sculting, R Available at http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/10756/ Wysocki, Michael Peter, Barclay, A, Bayliss, A, Whittle, A and Sculting, R (2007) Building for the Dead: Events, Processes and Changing Worldviews from the Thirty-eighth to the Thirty-fourth Centuries cal. BC in Southern Britain. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 17 (S1). pp. 123-147. It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0959774307000200 For more information about UCLan’s research in this area go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/researchgroups/ and search for <name of research Group>. For information about Research generally at UCLan please go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/ All outputs in CLoK are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including Copyright law. Copyright, IPR and Moral Rights for the works on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/policies/ CLoK Central Lancashire online Knowledge www.clok.uclan.ac.uk Building for the Dead Building for the Dead: Events, Processes and Changing Worldviews from the Thirty-eighth to the Thirty-fourth Centuries cal. bc in Southern Britain Alasdair Whittle, Alistair Barclay, Alex Bayliss, Lesley McFadyen, Rick Schulting & Michael Wysocki Our final paper in this series reasserts the importance of sequence.
    [Show full text]
  • SERF Papers Chris Hayden
    South East Research Framework resource assessment seminar White Horse Stone and the earliest Neolithic in the South East Chris Hayden Oxford Archaeology Introduction The starting point of this article is a pair of early Neolithic rectangular, post-built structures or longhouses found not far from Maidstone, in a dry valley on the southern edge of the North Downs in Kent. The structures were found on adjacent sites called White Horse Stone (in reference to the large sarsen stones found nearby, sometimes thought to have been part of a megalithic monument) and Pilgrim’s Way (after the trackway which separates the sites). Although numerous naturally-occurring sarsen stones occur in and around the site, and there is nothing to indicate that the Upper and Lower White Horse Stones were anything other than natural, the two structures do lie close to the eastern group of the Medway Megaliths: Little Kit’s Coty is just 600 m to the west; Kit’s Coty House 650 m to the north-west; and the possible tomb at Warrens Farm only 100 m to the north-east. The two post-built structures were excavated by Oxford Archaeology as part of the much larger archaeological project carried out in advance of the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Figure 1: Location of the White Horse Stone and Pilgrim’s Way sites Chronologically, my discussion is limited to the period in which these structures were in use: the earliest Neolithic, the first two or three centuries of the fourth millennium BC, predating the causewayed enclosures which are discussed by Healy, in an accompanying article.
    [Show full text]
  • Neolithic of Europe.Indb
    THE NEOLITHIC OF EUROPE PAPERS IN HONOUR OF ALASDAIR WHITTLE THE NEOLITHIC OF EUROPE PAPERS IN HONOUR OF ALASDAIR WHITTLE Edited by PENNY BICKLE, VICKI CUMMINGS, DANIELA HOFMANN AND JOSHUA POLLARD Oxford & Philadelphia Published in the United Kingdom in 2017 by OXBOW BOOKS The Old Music Hall, 106–108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE and in the United States by OXBOW BOOKS 1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083 © Oxbow Books and the individual authors 2017 Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-654-7 Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78570-655-4 (epub) A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library and the Library of Congress All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing. Printed in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd Typeset in India by Lapiz Digital Services, Chennai For a complete list of Oxbow titles, please contact: UNITED KINGDOM Oxbow Books Telephone (01865) 241249, Fax (01865) 794449 Email: [email protected] www.oxbowbooks.com UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Oxbow Books Telephone (800) 791-9354, Fax (610) 853-9146 Email: [email protected] www.casemateacademic.com/oxbow Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate Group Front cover: Alleskoven dolmen, Denmark (Vicki Cummings). Back cover: La Table des Marchands, France (Vicki Cummings); a reconstructed LBK longhouse in the Paris basin (Penny Bickle); Carrowmore, Ireland (Vicki Cummings); an excavation in progress at the Herpaly tell, Hungary (Pál Raczky).
    [Show full text]
  • Great Tottington's Sarsen Stones
    PAPER No. 0001-02 GREAT TOTTINGTON’S SARSEN STONES PAUL ASHBEE This paper has been downloaded from www.kentarchaeology.ac. The author has placed the paper on the site for download for personal or academic use. Any other use must be cleared with the author of the paper who retains the copyright. Please email [email protected] for details regarding copyright clearance. The Kent Archaeological Society (Registered Charity 223382) welcomes the submission of papers. The necessary form can be downloaded from the website at www.kentarchaeology.ac Whereas the sarsen stone-built long barrow remains on Blue Bell Hill have been noticed and described since the sixteenth century (Ashbee 1993), no more than incidental mention has been made of the many stones, grouped and isolated, which were at one time to be seen on the lower land skirting Great Tottington. Spreads of substantial stones, brought down from the heights by periglacial solifluxion, were to be found in Westfield Wood and behind the Lower Bell Inn, while, at one time, there were scattered boulders from Burham to Boxley and Bearsted. At Tottington, in the nineteenth century, an array of stones, large and small, were seen to lie around the farmyard; while others, some substantial, rested on the banks and in the spring-head which fed the pools and moat. Similarly, such sarsen stones were also a feature of the Cossington spring-head, almost a mile to the east. From the eighteenth century onwards, antiquarians and various archaeologists have speculated, regarding these as erstwhile circles and avenues. Sadly, Great Tottington’s sarsen stones, like those higher upon Blue Bell Hill, have been neither planned nor examined in detail.
    [Show full text]
  • Alistair Barclay Wessex Archaeology
    South East Research Framework resource assessment seminar Ceramics of the south-east: new directions Alistair Barclay Wessex Archaeology Introduction The South East region contains a complete ceramic sequence, although overall the distribution of various ceramic styles is varied, with marked concentrations along the coastal regions of Sussex and Kent, and along the corridor of the Thames (Surrey). Since the 1990s the impact of developer funded archaeology has added significantly to the number of known assemblages, although the distribution of the new material tends to reflect those areas that have seen most development. In this respect it is not surprising that considerable new assemblages have been found in parts of Kent where there have been major infrastructure projects. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), for example, which passes through the Medway Valley (an area with major groups of monuments) and then crosses the North Downs dip slope to the coast (an area devoid of Neolithic monuments) (see Ashbee 2004, 11), has produced 11 assemblages of earlier prehistoric pottery. Notable sites include Sandway Road, Cobham, Tutt Hill, Whitehill Road, Beechbrook Wood and Saltwood Tunnel (Barclay and Edwards 2007), and the dry valley at White Horse Stone/Pilgrim’s Way (see Hayden this web site). Important too is the discovery of sites under colluvium, perhaps the most significant of which are White Horse Stone with its early Neolithic buildings, late Neolithic stake and post circles and multiple pit deposits, and Holywell Coombe with its Beaker settlement. Developer-funded projects have also added a number of new causewayed enclosures to areas of Kent, notably on the Isle of Sheppey (Kingsborough Farm) and at Ramsgate (Healy, this web site; Lievers, this web site).
    [Show full text]
  • AN INVESTIGATION INTO the LATE NEOLITHIC and EARLY BRONZE AGE ROUND BARROW MONUMENTS in the WYLYE VALLEY, WILTSHIRE by SIMON MARK HOWARTH
    AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LATE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY BRONZE AGE ROUND BARROW MONUMENTS IN THE WYLYE VALLEY, WILTSHIRE by SIMON MARK HOWARTH A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. This thesis examines the significance of funerary practices and monuments dating to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age in and around the Wylye Valley to the west of Stonehenge. This has been conducted through the re-evaluation of the work of Sir Richard Colt Hoare and the production of a database and Geographical Information System using the Wiltshire Sites and Monuments Record. The motivation behind why the monuments were positioned where they were has been attempted through spatial analysis within the GIS. The critical examination of the primary excavation data is based on modern interpretive frameworks and the interpretations which have been formed are re-examined to meet new thinking. The results of the thesis indicate the concentration of barrows towards the top of the valley on the northern escarpment and the clustering of barrows around older features in the landscape.
    [Show full text]
  • Causewayed Enclosures and the Early Neolithic
    South East Research Framework resource assessment seminar Causewayed enclosures and the Early Neolithic: the chronology and character of monument building and settlement in Kent, Surrey and Sussex in the early to mid-4th millennium cal BC Frances Healy Honorary Research Fellow, Cardiff University Causewayed enclosures This paper is concerned with the early and middle 4th millennium cal BC, the period occupied by the early Neolithic. Its starting point lies in the project Dating Causewayed Enclosures: towards a History of the Early Neolithic in Southern Britain , initiated at Cardiff University in 2003 by Professor Alasdair Whittle, and funded by The Arts and Humanities Research Council and English Heritage, whose Scientific Dating Co-Ordinator, Dr Alex Bayliss, has been responsible for obtaining more than 400 new radiocarbon dates and modelling them with an equal number of others from 42 causewayed and related enclosures in England, Wales and Ireland (Whittle et al. 2008; Bayliss et al. forthcoming; Whittle et al. in prep.). These enclosures, characteristically defined by ditches interrupted by gaps (or causeways) have long been seen as defining features of the early Neolithic in southern Britain. This is largely due to their large size compared with other earthworks of the period, to their often rich cultural assemblages and to the stratified sequences which they provide. They consist of single or multiple circuits and other lengths of interrupted ditch, sometimes with surviving banks, and range in area from over 8 ha to less than 1 ha. They saw varied and sometimes rich deposits of human bone, food remains, digging implements, artefacts and the debris of their manufacture.
    [Show full text]