Excavation of a Bronze Age Unenclosed Cemetery, Cairns, and Field Boundaries at Eaglestone Flat, Curbar, Derbyshire, 1984, 1989–1990

Abstract

Excavations at Eaglestone Flat, on the gritstone eastern uplands of the Peak District, have revealed a Bronze Age cremation cemetery associated with a number of contemporaneous stone structures built for ritual and agricultural purposes. Some of the burials were within urns, mostly cordoned. Others were simply placed in pits whilst still hot. A minority were deposited in direct association with small cairns, either placed under or within them. The majority were on open ground near the stone features and adjacent to the upslope edge of a prehistoric field. Most of the stone structures are clearance features associated with the preparation and cultivation of the land close by over an extended period. They are found in a complex palimpsest, which includes structures of unusual design, such as retained rectangular platforms, and discontinuous walls that were only ever i-z courses high and probably surmounted by low banks. A series of radiocarbon results adds to knowledge of the date at which Peak District cairnftelds and field systems were built. Environmental data allows vegetational sequences to be reconstructed.

Radiocarbon Dates from the Oxford Ams System: Archaeometry Datelist 31

“…The date of 1880–1520 cal BC is in line with other dates for faience in Britain and Ireland, e.g. 3450 ± 50 BP (GU‐3260, 1890–1620 cal BC) from Stoneyburn, Lanarkshire (Banks 1995) and 3360 ± 75 BP (OxA‐3550, 1780–1450 cal BC) from Eagleston flat, Derbyshire (Barnatt 1994).…”

Settlement, Landscape and Social Identity: The Early‐Middle Bronze Age Transition in Wessex, Sussex and the Thames Valley

“…Even where deteriorating environmental conditions can be demonstrated during the later second and early first millennia BC, 'marginal' areas such as the Derbyshire gritstones or upland Northumbria were not always abandoned (e.g. Barnatt 1994;Wainwright and Smith 1980;Young and Simmonds 1995). This suggests that factors other than maximization of surplus production, for instance attachment to place, were considered important in Bronze Age people's evaluation of potential strategies for action (Young and Simmonds 1999).…”

Radiocarbon Dates From the Oxford Ams System: Archaeometry Datelist 14

“…Three samples of birch charcoal from the site of Eaglestone Flat, Curbar in the Peak District. The excavated site, at SK 26657406, comprises a complex palimpsest of small cairns, platforms, clearance features and vestigial walls, all sited on an upland gritstone shelf that was utilised for agricultural purposes in later prehistory (Barnatt 1986;in prep.). Associated with these remains is an open cemetery of cremations in pits, some within cordoned urns.…”