A late Neolithic complex at West Kennet, Wiltshire, England

Abstract

The Avebury region has been given World Heritage status for its complex of Neolithic sites - Avebury itself, Silbury Hill, the West and East Kennet long barrows, and others. New fieldwork reveals a further complex of sites on the edges of the Kennet valley bottom.

The Sanctuary, Overton Hill, Wiltshire: A Re-examination

“…The Avebury henge, Silbury Hill and probably the West Kennet Avenue were under construction, while the final acts of deposition and blocking took place at the West Kennet long barrow (Thomas & Whittle 1986, 150). The West Kennet Farm palisade enclosures probably came late in this phase of activity (Whittle 1991). By analogy with the Sanctuary, it may be ventured that if Falkner's Circle and other uninvestigated stone rings in the area were excavated, they would also produce evidence for a mid-third millennium cal BC date of construction.…”

Life and Death in the `Neolithic': Dwelling-Scapes in Southern Britain

“…9. The waterlogged sites include the Somerset Levels' trackways (Coles and Coles 1989) and West Kennet palisade enclosures 1 and 2 (Whittle 1991).…”

THE NEOLITHIC of the AVEBURY AREA: SEQUENCE, ENVIRONMENT, SETTLEMENT and MONUMENTS

“…I assign it therefore to the beginning of Phase F. The 'lithicisation' of Avebury might have been carried out in this phase. The palisade enclosures at West Kennet were built, presumably one after the other (Whittle 1991b). The blocking of the West Kennet long barrow was completed (Thomas and Whittle 1986), and within or by the end of this phase both Avebury and Silbury Hill may largely have been abandoned.…”

“…There was still woodland in the area in Phases E and F. Indications are the turves from recently cleared ground (with charcoal fragments) in the primary core of Silbury Hill (Evans 1972;Whittle in preparation), the pollen spectrum from the clay-with-flints old ground surface under Silbury Hill (Dimbleby, in Whittle in preparation) and the oaks of up to 50 cm diameter in the palisades at West Kennet (Whittle 1991b). Renewed clearance is seen in the molluscan sequences at Millbarrow (indirectly dated by two partly polished plano-convex flint knives), Windmill Hill (dated by a mixture of developed Peterborough pottery, Grooved ware and Beakers), South Street (dated by Beaker pottery) and Easton Down (dated indirectly by a plain accessory vessel).…”

“…If Avebury was followed by Silbury Hill, that in turn appears to have been followed by the West Kennet palisade enclosures, in Phase F (Whittle 1991b) (Figs 8-9). Enclosure 1 was over 200 m in diameter,I7 while enclosure 2 was larger and more oval, on the indications of magnetometer and air photographic survey, tested by excavation in 1992.…”