No abstract

OXI 2EP4 City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Queen's Road, Bristol B S 8 I R L M3 THE PREHISTORIC SOCIETY to the excavation of further surviving parts of the complex: site i, a long D-shaped enclosure incorporated in the southern end of the cursus, and sites 2, 3 and 4.Both sets of sites are presented together, largely following the chronological scheme proposed for the complex by Bradley and Chambers (1988). Site VIII and site 1 are long enclosures of Earlier Neolithic date, with human remains. The latter site has a calibrated date of 3773-3378 BC. Site III is a cursus at least 1600 m long which cuts site VIII and incorporates site 1. A date of 3 3 60-3 040 BC was obtained from the primary fill of its ditch. Site XI is a three-phase ring ditch, perhaps successive enlargements of a barrow, but its innermost ditch is cut by a pit circle with cremations. There are Ebbsfleet sherds in the outermost ditch, and dates of 3037-2788 and 3024-2908 BC from the innermost, perhaps primary, ditch. Site XIV is a ring ditch succeeded by the Big Rings henge. Site 3 is a post circle between the ditches of the southern part of the cursus, with some secondary cremations. It has dates from the outer wood of its posts of 2890-2499, 2886-2491 and 2872-2470 BC; dates on charcoal associated with secondary cremations we're 2880-2470, 2870-2460 and 2123-1740 BC. Site 2 is a penannular ring ditch with a primary date of 2912-2705 BC, and secondary cremations. Site XII is a notable Beaker burial within a two-phase ring ditch. An adult man was laid crouched on a bier and was accompanied by a fine W/MR beaker, a stone bracer, a tanged copper knife and a small riveted knife with at least one rivet of tin bronze. Traces of a stretcher-like feature were found in an adjacent pit which cuts the inner ring ditch. Site XIII, the Big Rings, is a large double ditched enclosure with central bank and opposed entrances. There was Beaker pottery in the primary fill of the inner ditch, but very little material was found in either ditch, and there were minimal features in the interior, part of which was stripped. Site 4 consists of two conjoined ring ditches within the southern end of the cursus. It encloses cremation burials. One, accompanied by an awl and Collared Urn, has a date of 2290-1910 BC. Traces of a ditched field system (originally referred to as a droveway, site IX) of later Bronze Age date were found cutting sites III, VIII and XIII, and paired ditches on site 1 may be related.The complex is related to its local and regional context, and the sequence of development is discussed. A timescale measured in generations is advocated, with phases of continuity and episodes of little activity both represented. Several aspects of monuments are considered: their differing scales including the monumental, their ability to endure and create tradition, and finally the choice of designs, from the locally customary to the exotic. 157

The excavation of an oval crop mark close to the Abingdon causewayed enclosure showed a complex sequence of development, starting with a rectangular ditched enclosure and most probably ending with an oval barrow of a type with parallels elsewhere in lowland England. The site included the grave of two individuals associated with a polished knife, a belt slider and most probably a leaf shaped arrowhead, and produced a series of radiocarbon dates extending from the Earlier to the Later Neolithic. A number of formal deposits around one end of the site are matched by similar material from the inner ditch of the causewayed enclosure, suggesting a direct link between the two monuments.

Rescue excavation at Stoneyfield was undertaken on behalf of the then Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (Scotland) in 1972–3. The results suggest that this multi-period monument can be divided broadly into three major phases of construction. In Phase 1 a series of pits were dug in the early third millennium BC, one containing Grooved Ware and a second a cup-marked stone. In Phase 2 further pits were dug, again some with Grooved Ware. Two of these antedated a central rectangular post setting, but the recovery of sherds, similar to those from the pits, suggest the structure belongs to the same general period. To this phase also belongs the construction of a massive kerb of graded stones, the tallest to the south-west enclosing a platform cairn in the Clava tradition. Finally, Phase 3 involved the construction of a series of cists, one with a Food Vessel, and the digging of a pit through the platform cairn containing a cremation beneath an inverted Cordoned Urn. There was also evidence of Iron Age and early medieval activity on the site.

Two Bronze Age cremation cemeteries excavated between 1968 and 1975 are reported and discussed. At Coneygre Farm, Notts., fifty-one cremations were excavated, thirty-one in pots, six in cists, and fourteen uncontained. Cremations were deposited in a roughly linear arrangement and no barrow was found. At Pasture Lodge Farm, Lines., twenty-seven pots were found, of which twenty-five had associated cremations, and fifteen further sherds could represent burials. Vessels in this cemetery form a small cluster. Pottery from these two cemeteries is broadly similar to Deverel-Rimbury ware and with vessels from other sites in the region is considered to form an East Midlands group of Bronze Age pottery. Vessels of this type from Frieston and Grantham, Lines., are illustrated for the first time. Examination of thin sections of the pottery from the two cemeteries suggests that most, although not all, of the materials used could have been found locally. Organic remains found in thin sections provide environmental information. The effect of soils on durability of pots and their probable function is discussed. A direct relationship is noticed for the first time between the age of the cremated individual and the capacity of the pot in which the cremation was deposited.