The Excavation of a Multiple Round Barrow at Barnack, Cambridgeshire 1974–1976

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

“…28) at Barnack, Cambs, in W/MR association, was dated on charcoal to 2043-1782 BC (HAR-1645) and 213 8-1959 BC (BM-1412) (Donaldson 1977). The primary grave (no.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Riveted Knife With Bronze Rivetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Excavations in the Neolithic and Bronze Age Complex at Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, 1947–1952 and 1981

Whittle

Atkinson²,

Chambers

et al. 1992

“…48B). The Beakers and accompanying grave groups from Barnack, Cambridgeshire, Winterslow, Wiltshire, and Dorchester XII, Oxfordshire, are classic examples (Donaldson 1977;Clarke 1970, 296, fig. 5; Barclay &c Halpin 1999, 151, fig.…”

Section: S Needham Transforming Beaker Culture In New Europementioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming Beaker Culture in North-West Europe; Processes of Fusion and Fission

Needham

2005

It is the slippery assemblages and the social traditions they represent, that we are trying to precipitate from the mass of beaker data'. Clarke 1970, 33 The pottery we collectively call 'Beakers' is united by the thread of a potting and style tradition, trapped up in that tradition are also expressions concerning what such a pot is for and who it may represent. Both style and those embedded meanings mutate through the long currency of British Beakers. Indeed, the newly emerging chronology for Beaker grave groups suggests that there was one critical point of rapid mutation in both pot form and associated artefacts. This phase is referred to as a fission horizon, c. 2250-2150 cal BC, and it underlines the difficulties that past schemes of steady evolution have run into. In reviewing the continental background for Beaker-carrying cultures, a corridor of Bell Beaker/Corded Ware fusion is perceived along the southern flanks of the Channel. This created a modified spectrum of Beaker culture which stands at the head of the insular phenomenon. The long ensuing currency of Beaker pottery and Beaker graves in Britain does not hold up as a unified, steadily evolving entity. Instead, three 'phases of meaning' can be suggested: 1) Beaker as circumscribed, exclusive culture; 2) Beaker as instituted culture; 3) Beaker as past reference. The fission horizon initiates phase 2.

“…Barnack, Cambs;Donaldson 1977). At West Ashby each structural phase created a barrow different in form from its immediate predecessor.…”

Section: The Charcoal Samples By Carole a Keepaxmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assemblage belongs to the third and fourth steps of Beaker development defined by Lanting and van der Waals (1972) for the British Isles. The Maxey Beaker accompanied an inhumation burial with a copper knife and stone bracer, one burial in a cemetery of inhumation graves beneath a round barrow (Donaldson 1977). The Beaker finds from Lincolnshire, like the Trent Basin and the Peak District to the west, do not provide a full sequence of Beaker development from the pottery finds available for study.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Multi-phased Barrow and Possible Henge Monument at West Ashby, Lincolnshire

Field

Harman

Keepax³

et al. 1985

Excavation of the surviving half of a barrow, identified from aerial photographs as having three concentric ditches, revealed a sequence of at least six major alterations. The site may originally have been a Class I henge monument subsequently adapted for use as a barrow. Features of all phases were mainly in the central area of the barrow and included two inhumations in coffins, one accompanied by a Yorkshire-type food vessel. A cremation in a PrimarySeries collared urn was accompanied by a bronze razor/knife and two flint plano-convex knives. A further cremation in a collared urn was found in the middle ditch. The barrow lay close to a settlement; early Bronze Age flintwork and pottery, including Grooved Ware and Beaker, were recovered from the several phases of mound make-up.