Round Barrows in Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Yorkshire Architecture, Burial, and Landscape David G. Cockcroft Doctor of Philosophy School of History, Classics, and Archaeology April 2015 Abstract This thesis examines the role of round barrows during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (c. 2500 – 1500 BC) in Yorkshire. This is done by exploring patterns in site distribution, use of construction material, changes in artefact deposition, burial practices and architectural traditions to examine changing prehistoric engagements with the dead, the remains of past monuments, and the land itself through three key questions. These are: how were round barrows in Yorkshire developed over time, how did they affect the changing relationships between the living and the dead, and what do they tell us about prehistoric engagement with the physical world? Across the centuries of their use, round barrows relate differently to the sense of space and place, conceptions of past and memory, and signify shifting relationships between the living and the dead. These trends are traced across whole of Yorkshire and in specific case study areas: the Upper Wold Valley, the Ure-Swale interfluve, and the Howardian Hills. Throughout Yorkshire, there is a co-existence of Beakers and Food Vessels in burials. Practices such as cremation burial were more common in certain regions than others in the latter half of the Early Bronze Age. In the Wolds and the Vale of Mowbray, inhumation remained a significant practice throughout the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. Cremation burial became more influential across Yorkshire and round barrows with burials of cremated remains were built in the Howardian Hills without pre-existing monuments. In the Ure-Swale interfluve, round barrows were built both within Neolithic monument complexes and outside of them c. 2150-1750 BC. After that development of burial mounds moves away from older monuments. Diversity in round barrows is difficult to appreciate from only the Wolds or the North Yorkshire Moors. The region might follow many of the patterns established elsewhere in Britain but it is comprised of varied and a greater level of refinement could define other parts of the county better by using the wider-scale framework to examine monuments in the surrounding regions. i Acknowledgments First of all, I would like to thank my supervisors: Chris Fowler and Jan Harding; for their comments, critique, and general support throughout what proved to be a difficult process of getting this research to fruition. In addition, I would like to thank my parents for their emotional, financial, statistical and proofing support. I would like to thank the staff of the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology and the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences for their support and understanding for the various issues that arose over the course of four years. Finally, but definitely not least, I would like to thank the various friends and colleagues in the four years that I have made Newcastle my home for their support, chitchat, and wisdom. ii Table of contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. ii Table of contents ............................................................................................................. iii List of tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of figures .................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Landscape and geology of Yorkshire .................................................................. 2 1.2. Yorkshire case studies ........................................................................................ 7 1.3. Round barrows of Yorkshire: architecture, burial, and landscape .................... 9 1.4. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2. A historiography of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age round barrows in Britain ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11 2.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 11 2.2. Mound material and morphology .................................................................... 11 2.3. Round barrow architecture .............................................................................. 20 2.4. Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age artefacts studies ........................................ 24 2.4.1. Ceramics .................................................................................................... 25 2.4.2. Metalwork ................................................................................................. 30 2.4.3. Jet .............................................................................................................. 32 2.5. Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age mortuary practice ...................................... 33 2.5.1. Inhumation ................................................................................................ 33 2.5.2. Cremation .................................................................................................. 34 iii 2.6. Landscape studies of round barrows ............................................................... 36 2.7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 38 Chapter 3. Round barrows in Yorkshire: a methodology arising from a critical history of research ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..42 3.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 42 3.2. A history of round barrow study in Yorkshire .................................................. 43 3.3. Analysing round barrows in Yorkshire ............................................................. 53 3.3.1. Establishing a basic data-collection framework........................................ 54 3.3.2. The extended data-collection framework ................................................ 58 3.3.3. Data collection, case study and source selection ..................................... 61 3.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 65 Chapter 4. Analysis at the large scale: broad trends in Yorkshire round barrows ..... 66 4.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 66 4.2. General distribution patterns ........................................................................... 67 4.3. Mound construction and architectural motifs ................................................. 70 4.3.1. Diameter and composition of burial mounds ........................................... 70 4.3.2. Distribution of burial mound compositions .............................................. 72 4.3.3. The role of structural features and burial mound composition ............... 77 4.3.4. Distribution of structural features ............................................................ 79 4.4. Artefact distribution in round barrows ............................................................ 85 4.5. Treatment of the dead ................................................................................... 100 4.6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 105 Chapter 5. Case study 1: the Upper Wold Valley ...................................................... 108 iv 5.1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 108 5.2. Geology and archaeological background ....................................................... 110 5.3. Round barrow mound composition and architecture ................................... 118 5.4. Artefact distribution ....................................................................................... 124 5.5. Burial practice and treatment of the dead ..................................................... 129 5.6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 133 Chapter 6. Case study 2: the Ure-Swale Interfluve ................................................... 135 6.1. Introduction .................................................................................................... 135 6.2. Geology and archaeological background ....................................................... 137 6.3. Round barrow mound composition and architecture ................................... 143 6.4. Artefact distribution ....................................................................................... 150 6.5. Burial practice and treatment of the dead ..................................................... 153 6.6. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 159 Chapter 7. Case study 3: the Howardian Hills........................................................... 162 7.1. Introduction