Pits and pyre debris at Tresavean, Lanner, Cornwall

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1999

Cropmarks of a ditched Iron Age enclosure were excavated in advance of opencast coal mining and archaeological features representing a number of different phases were recorded. The earliest identifiable activity on the site is represented by a spread of Early Bronze Age artefacts, from within a layer sealing a number of pits and post-holes in the south-east of the excavation area, some of which may have originated from a possible ring-ditch burial. A series of occupations in the first millennium BC began with an unenclosed ring-groove house, of which only a small portion survived. This first house was replaced by another ring-groove house enclosed by a polygonal ditched enclosure. Subsequently, a broad defensive ditch was constructed around the site with an entrance protected by a post-built gateway to the south-east. Over time the ditch silted up; a number of stone-paved floors represent the probable locations of later houses, some of which were built into the upper fill of this defensive ditch. At this time the settlement appears to have been unenclosed, although there are indications that the entrance to the south-east was replaced by a causeway across the ditch in its north-eastern circuit and a short length of the ditch was re-cut on either side of this new entrance. Occupation on the site appears to have lasted until the Roman Iron Age. Finally, the site was affected by medieval ploughing. The project was funded throughout by Historic Scotland (formerly Scottish Development Department/Historic Buildings and Monuments division). Stone-paved structures ILLUS 3 Plan of Trench positions and approximate extent of cropmarks curvilinear feature (illus 3, e) could be a ditch although it may reflect a change in the underlying sub-soil, and is perhaps the result of a relict stream channel. The linear cropmark (illus 3, f) appears to merge with cropmark (illus 3, d) although the rectified cropmark image does not match the ditch located by excavation in Trench III. The site was threatened by the extensive opencast coal mine to the west and is now buried beneath the mine's spoil heaps. The rescue excavations were funded by the Scottish Development Department (Ancient Monuments) and were directed by Trevor Watkins with the support of the Department of Archaeology of the University of Edinburgh. Subsequent post-excavation work was undertaken over a number of years. The present report was commissioned by Historic Scotland and undertaken by the Centre for Field Archaeology in association with Trevor Watkins, using the original site archive. This paper represents the final site report and follows the basic site sequence outlined in the proceedings of the conference on later prehistoric settlement in south-east Scotland (Watkins 1982). In general, the sequence of events related therein remains unchanged. The investigations began with a geophysical survey and the excavation of sections of the main ditch in the spring of 1978 and continued with summer seasons in 1978-81, with a final season of excavation at Easter 1982. [ J Unexcavated features RG Ring groove SS Stone-paved structure ILLUS 4 Plan of major features in all phases 'Beaker' area (illus 4) Around 50 pieces of chipped stone were recovered from the mixed colluvium layer which overspread this area, including a barbed-and-tanged arrowhead (illus 6, no 882). Around 13 sherds of pottery were recovered, including at least four sherds of Beaker pottery (illus 6, nos 1-4 and possibly nos 5 & 6). The Beaker sherds were recovered from just above the natural sub-soil and were probably redeposited from Early Bronze Age activity in the immediate vicinity. Another artefact which may date to the Early Bronze Age is the phallic-shaped amber bead (illus 18, no 310) although Hunter (below) prefers an Iron Age date for this item. A spread of negative features was sealed below this layer of mixed colluvium. These included a number of slots, pits, post-holes and stake-holes. The slots all contained post-holes set at variable distances which suggest that these features may have supported short lengths of palisade or light fencing. No clear pattern could be discerned among these features which would indicate a single structure. None of the diagnostic Early Bronze Age artefacts was found within any of these features, but with the concentration of flint flakes and Beaker sherds, and in the absence of any more positive evidence, they are tentatively attributed to the earliest phase of occupation on the site. Quantities of later prehistoric artefactual material were also recovered from this vicinity, however, and some of these features could have been related to the later prehistoric occupation. In particular, the alignment of the two features which run parallel to the antennae ditch, and the slots which appear concentric to the edge of the defensive ditch, may support this alternative interpretation (illus 4). A penannular ring-ditch with its entrance facing north-westwards was located in the south-eastern corner of the excavation area. Its western side was not fully exposed. It was 6.2 m in overall diameter and was formed by a shallow ditch 0.9-1.3 m wide by 0.3 m deep, enclosing a central area 3.8-4.1 m in diameter. The ditch was filled by a brown loam which contained a random scatter of stones. A large, shallow, sub-rectangular pit was located slightly off-centre within the ring-ditch. It measured 1.55 m long by 1.1 m wide and was up to 0.4 m deep. It was filled with re-deposited, orange-brown, gravel sub-soil. This ring-ditch and central pit are interpreted as the remains of an enclosed burial, probably of Bronze Age or Iron Age date. A flint flake (illus 6, no 976) was recovered from the fill of the pit while a flint core was found in the plough-soil above, but no diagnostic artefacts were recovered from the fills either of the ditch or of the central pit. There were no remains of an inhumation, however phosphate tests provided weak to regular reactions, perhaps indicating that the pit formerly contained a burial (although evidence of animal activity was noted in the north-east corner of the pit and may offer an alternative explanation of these results). A low gravel mound -0.05 m high -lay directly to the south of the pit and was interpreted as the remnant upcast from it. It is conceivable that the scatter of stones recovered from the ditch fill may be the remains of a low cairn which originally covered a grave. A line of stake-holes along the eastern side of the ring-ditch may relate to later activity on the site, possibly forming part of a fence running southwards from the terminal of the external ditch. Another barbed-and-tanged arrowhead (illus 6, no 309) was recovered when cleaning the upper surface of the infilled defensive ditch c 5-10 m west of its south-west terminal. The close similarity in size and shape between both the barbed-and-tanged arrowheads from the site (nos 309 & 882) is remarkable; they may perhaps represent part of a set originating from the disturbed burial.

Cornish |Archaeology, 2002

Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports, 2020

An investigation by Headland Archaeology (UK) Ltd took place in early 2013 in advance of a housing development at Ness Gap, Fortrose, Highland. The excavation revealed domestic activity dating from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. A cluster of Neolithic pits provided insights into the development of agriculture in the area, with evidence for cereal production and the gathering of wild resources. The use of the site changed in the Bronze Age, with the landscape utilised for funerary practices, which were represented by stone cists and cremation burials, both urned and unurned. Analysis has further informed on the burial practices of the Bronze Age and added to our understanding of a unique peninsular landscape rich in prehistoric activity.

Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports

Excavations in 1991 beside Loth Road, Sanday, revealed a funerary site, including two cists, which contained cremated human bone, and several pits. The cremation burial in one of the cists was contained in a soapstone vessel. These features presented evidence for the sorting, selection and differential deposition of pyre remains. The cists and pits were surmounted by a kerbed cairn of unusual construction. Radiocarbon dates from the pits placed the site in the Early to Middle Bronze Age.

Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 1987

The excavation of a large circular dished earthwork near Carnforth, North Lancashire, in 1982, has revealed a substantial Bronze Age funerary monument. The earliest structure was a sub-rectangular enclosure of limestone boulders dated to c. 1740-1640 BC cal. and associated with parts of two poorly preserved inhumation burials lying on the previously cleared ground surface. Both burials were accompanied by typologically early metalwork. The central inhumation was associated with a flat axe and dagger, suggesting an individual of high status as well as providing an important link between the early stages of development of both bronze types. The subsequent overlying cairn of smaller stones included eleven fairly discrete concentrations of inhumed bone, and seven of cremated bone and pottery. All this material was extremely fragmentary, and was probably derived from later re-use of the cairn.

2009

Scottish archaeological journal, 2009

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Excavations in 1996 in advance of a major commercial development at Seafield West revealed a Bronze Age cemetery. Inside a ring-ditch were two adjacent graves with wooden coffins, one a boat-shaped hollowed tree-trunk, the other plank-built. Both had probably contained crouched inhumation burials. Grave goods in the former included a bronze dagger of ‘Butterwick’ type whose scabbard of wood and cattle hide produced a date of 3385 ± 45 BP (1870–1520 cal BC at 2s), slightly later than expected; those in the latter included an ‘Irish Bowl’ Food Vessel, believed to date to c 2000 BC. Both items indicate links with Ireland. Also inside the ring-ditch were: a short stone cist; a pit containing cremated human remains accompanied by three burnt barbed-and-tanged arrowheads and a mandible fragment, probably of a dog or fox; and three pits, at least one of which might have been an inhumation grave. Outside, and to the east, was a second short stone cist with a Beaker; to the west, a cluster o...

Hampshire Studies, 2019

An archaeological excavation was undertaken by Cotswold Archaeology in February 2016, on land at Beggarwood Lane, Basingstoke, Hampshire. The excavation area was targeted on archaeological features identified by evaluation. Excavation identified a small Early Bronze Age cremation cemetery, comprising twenty-three pits containing deposits of cremated bone or pyre debris, seven of which were associated with urns. The identified vessels included both collared urn and 'food vessel' types, which are well-represented in cremation cemeteries of this date elsewhere in Hampshire. Cremated human bone was recovered from only nine features, of which three were associated with urns and six were unurned. Two pits contained possible evidence of post settings, and a small number of undated features had no association with cremation-related material, and were of unknown function. A single feature, of Roman date, contained a deposit of iron nails which, together with charred plant remains, su...

The Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600–1150 cal BC) in Britain is traditionally understood to represent a major funerary transition. This is a transformation from a heterogeneous funerary rite, largely encompassing inhumations and cremations in burial mounds and often accompanied by grave goods, to a homogeneous and unadorned cremation-based practice. Despite a huge expansion in the number of well excavated, radiocarbon dated, and osteologically analysed sites in the last three decades, current interpretations of Middle Bronze Age cremation burials still rely upon a seminal paper by Ellison (1980), which proposed that they comprise and represent an entire community. This paper analyses 378 cremation sites containing at least 3133 burials which represent all those that can be confidently dated to the Middle Bronze Age in Britain. The new analysis demonstrates that relatively few sites can be characterised as community cemeteries and that there are substantially more contemporary settlement sites, though few contemporary settlements are in close proximity to the cemeteries. The identifiable characteristics of cremation-based funerary practices are consistent across Britain with little evidence for social differentiation at the point of burial. It is also evident that only a minority of the population received a cremation burial. There is a substantial decrease in archaeologically visible funerary activity from the preceding Early Bronze Age (c. 2200–1600 cal BC) and a further decrease in the proceeding Late Bronze Age (c. 1150–800 cal BC) in Britain. This is comparable in form, and partially in sequence, to Bronze Age funerary practices in Ireland and several regions in Northwest Europe.

Preserved in the peat, 2016

Excavation of a Scheduled burial mound on Whitehorse Hill, Dartmoor revealed an unexpected, intact burial deposit of Early Bronze Age date associated with an unparalleled range of artefacts. The cremated remains of a young person had been placed within a bearskin pelt and provided with a basketry container, from which a braided band with tin studs had spilled out. Within the container were beads of shale, amber, clay and tin; two pairs of turned wooden studs and a worked fl int fl ake. A unique item, possibly a sash or band, made from textile and animal skin was found beneath the container. Beneath this, the basal stone of the cist had been covered by a layer of purple moor grass which had been collected in summer. Analysis of environmental material from the site has revealed important insights into the pyre material used to burn the body, as well as providing important information about the environment in which the cist was constructed. The unparalleled assemblage of organic objects has yielded insights into a range of materials which have not survived from the earlier Bronze Age elsewhere in southern Britain.

Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2024

The majority of excavated human remains from Neolithic Britain emanate from monumental sites. However, it is increasingly recognized that multiple funerary practices are often attested within these monuments, and that diverse treatment of the dead is evident contemporaneously at non-monumental sites. In this paper, we highlight such variation in non-monumental funerary practices in Neolithic Britain (c. 4000–2500 BC) through the biographical study of an assemblage from a large post-hole at Bridlington Boulevard, Yorkshire. Through osteological and taphonomic analysis of the human bones and technological and microwear analysis of the accompanying axehead, we infer complex funerary processes, with the expediently manufactured axehead potentially featuring in the funerary rites and subsequent post-raising before being deposited in the feature. Bridlington Boulevard represents one element of a varied funerary complex—cremations in pits and post-holes—at a time when most individuals were not deposited in monuments, or indeed were not deposited at all. Compiling these non-monumental cremations across Britain causes us to look beyond categorizing these assemblages as funerary contexts, and instead suggests important cosmological associations and forces were brought together in pit and post-and-human cremation deposits.

The Archaeological Journal, 2020

Excavations on the south-eastern slopes of King Barrow Ridge, 1.5 km east of Stonehenge, revealed five pits, a grave and other features of Middle Neolithic date. Analysis of the pit assemblages and the partial inhumation interred in the grave has provided insights into lifeways in this landscape in the late fourth millennium cal BC. Evidence suggests that the area was visited by a pastoralist, mobile community on a semi-regular basis for a significant period, in late autumn or winter. Selected remnants of craft-working and consumption were deposited in pits, before deliberate infilling. These depositions repeatedly memorialised activity on the hillside at a time of contemporary activity elsewhere on King Barrow Ridge and at the future site of Stonehenge. Middle Neolithic pits are present in significant numbers across King Barrow Ridge, and alongside pits in the Durrington area, form one of the densest concentrations of such activity in the region. Long distance mobility is suggested by the possible Irish origins of the inhumation, the first Middle Neolithic individual excavated in the environs of Stonehenge. Whilst of significance for understanding the Middle Neolithic in the WHS and the region, this research also hints at the roots of Late Neolithic monumentalisation of this landscape.