The Excavation of a Neolithic Cairn at Street House, Loftus, Cleveland.

Vyner, Blaise

doi:10.1017/s0079497x00007519

Cited by 39 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Other excavations since Wayland's Smithy and Fussell's Lodge have produced evidence in support of the alternative reconstruction, notably Lochhill, Dumfries and Galloway (Masters 1973), Dalladies, Grampian (Piggott 1974) and Street House, Cleveland (Vyner 1984). Many older excavations at sites both in Wessex and Yorkshire can be similarly interpreted (e.g.…”

Section: The Mortuary Structure Of Wayland's Smithy Imentioning

confidence: 96%

Wayland's Smithy, Oxfordshire: Excavations at the Neolithic Tomb in 1962–63 by R. J. C. Atkinson and S. Piggott

Whittle

Brothwell

Cullen

et al. 1991

Proc. Prehist. Soc.

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Wayland's Smithy, on the north scarp of the downs above the Vale of the White Horse, is a two-phase Neolithic tomb. It has been a recognized feature of the historic landscape since at least the 10th century AD. It was recorded by Aubrey and later antiquaries, and continued to be of interest in the 19th century. It was amongst the first monuments to be protected by scheduling from 1882. The first excavations in 1919-20 were haphazardly organized and poorly recorded, but served to confirm, as suggested by Akerman and Thurnam, that the stone terminal chamber was transepted, to show that it had held burials, and to indicate the likely existence of an earlier structural phase.Further excavations took place in 19 62-63 to explore the monument more and restore it for better presentation. The excavations revealed a two-phase monument. Wayland's Smithy I is a small oval barrow, defined by flanking ditches, an oval kerb, and a low chalk and sarsen barrow. It contains a mortuary structure defined by large pits which held posts of split trunks, a pavement, and opposed linear cairns of sarsen. This has been seen as the remains of a pitched and ridged mortuary tent, in the manner proposed also for the structure under the Fussell's Lodge long barrow, but in the light of ensuing debate and of subsequent discoveries elsewhere, it can also be seen as an embanked, box-like structure, perhaps with a flat wooden roof. This structure contained the remains of at least fourteen human skeletons, in varying states of completeness. The burial rite may have included primary burial or exposure elsewhere, but some at least of the bodies could have been deposited directly into the mortuary structure, and subsequent circulation or removal of bones cannot be discounted. Little silt accumulated in the ditches of phase I before the construction of phase II, and a charcoal sample from this interval gave a date of 3 700-3 390 BC.Wayland's Smithy II consists of a low sarsen-kerbed trapezoidal barrow, with flanking ditches, which follows the north-south alignment of phase I. At the south end there was a faqade of larger sarsen stones, from which ran back a short passage leading to a transepted chamber, roofed with substantial capstones. This could have risen above the surrounding barrow. The excavations of1919-20 revealed the presence of incomplete human burials in the west transept; the chamber had probably already been disturbed. The excavations of1962-63 revealed further structural detail of the surrounds of the chamber, including a sarsen cairn piled in front and around it; deposits of calcium carbonate well up the walls of the chamber could be taken to suggest the former existence of chalk rubble blocking, in the manner of the West Kennet long barrow.

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Section: The Mortuary Structure Of Wayland's Smithy Imentioning

confidence: 96%

Wayland's Smithy, Oxfordshire: Excavations at the Neolithic Tomb in 1962–63 by R. J. C. Atkinson and S. Piggott

Whittle

Brothwell

Cullen

et al. 1991

Proc. Prehist. Soc.

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show abstract

“…They divide the chamber into a front 'vestibule' and a longer i n m r chamber. posts in the butts of the returning arms were set at right angles to the rest of the faqade posts, which points to their being 'end posts', the implication being that, as at Street House (Vyner 1984) the faqade in its primary phase was a free-standing structure rather than a mound revetment as C.W. Phillips (1936) The evidence suggests that the faqade consisted of close-set split oak trunks each c. 60 cm in diameter.…”

Section: Haddenham Proiectmentioning

confidence: 97%

3 Sites. The Haddenham long barrow: an interim statement

Hodder¹,

Shand²

1988

Antiquity

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“…Aside from the 'crematoria' underneath some long barrows, now widely believed to be burnt mortuary structures (Vyner 1984;1986), the rite of cremation escalates in the later Neolithic. Once again, in Bronze Age contexts, more than one individual is frequently identified amongst the cremated bone with at least 4 individuals represented by a Collared Urn cremation at Weasenham Lyngs, Norfolk (Petersen & Healy 1986).…”

Section: Cremations: Single Multiple and Partialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Were These People? A Sideways View and a Non-answer of Political Proportions

Gibson¹

2016

The Neolithic of Mainland Scotland

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This paper is a review of a broad range of evidence for burial practice in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain. The author asks the difficult question – who were these people – in relation to the nameless dead found during excavations. A broad range of evidence is reviewed, including inhumations, cremations and conjoined bodies, and the fixed lines between these categories are questioned. The use of modern concepts such as ‘burial’ are also queried. Set within a chronological framework, this paper offers a challenging and fresh approach to archaeological understandings and interpretations of burial practice.

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The Excavation of a Neolithic Cairn at Street House, Loftus, Cleveland.

Cited by 39 publications

References 23 publications

Wayland's Smithy, Oxfordshire: Excavations at the Neolithic Tomb in 1962–63 by R. J. C. Atkinson and S. Piggott

Wayland's Smithy, Oxfordshire: Excavations at the Neolithic Tomb in 1962–63 by R. J. C. Atkinson and S. Piggott

3 Sites. The Haddenham long barrow: an interim statement

Who Were These People? A Sideways View and a Non-answer of Political Proportions

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