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

Abstract

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

Geoarchaeology, the four dimensional (4D) fluvial matrix and climatic causality

“…Indeed this is in line with the discovery of other major ceremonial complexes from other river valleys in Britain including the Nene (Healy and Harding, 2003;Parry, 2007) and the Thames in Oxfordshire (Whittle et al, 1992). In terms of the fluvial regime a definite increase occurs in lateral reworking of Devensian and presumably earlier Holocene gravels in selected reaches from the early Neolithic onwards.…”

Cremation Practices and the Creation of Monument Complexes: The Neolithic Cremation Cemetery at Forteviot, Strathearn, Perth & Kinross, Scotland, and its comparanda

“…Despite truncation, a series of mostly single cremation deposits of adults and children were recovered during Ritchie's excavations in the early 1970s, most from standing stone sockets. Balbirnie is part of a much larger complex of monuments which included henge monuments and timber settings at (Willis et al 2016, 353), this is based on an un-tested extrapolation; the largest number of confirmed Middle-Late Neolithic cremation deposits recovered in Britain is actually from Dorchester-onThames, the biggest Neolithic monument complex known to date in the Thames Valley (Atkinson et al 1951;Kinnes 1979;Whittle et al 1992). At Dorchester, a series of monuments associated with the deposition of cremated remains was constructed in the centuries around 3000 cal BC, including multi-phase ring ditches (Site XI), probable timber circles (Sites 3, IV, V & VI), a penannular ring ditch (Site 2), and sites that combined elements of all three enclosure types (Sites I, II & XIV) (see Table 5).…”

“…3.3) classified many of these cemeteries as a distinct group in his typological synthesis of round barrows and ring ditches (his Stage E sites). More recent work by Whittle et al (1992) at Dorchester-onThames; Gibson (2010a;Gibson et al 2011) at Duggleby Howe, North Yorkshire and Balbirnie, Fife; Parker- Pearson et al (2009) and Willis et al (2016) at Stonehenge, alongside the new findings at Forteviot, have reasserted the importance of these cemeteries through new fieldwork and analysis.…”

Neolithic/Early Bronze Age Pit Circles and their Environs at Oakham, Rutland

“…Some pit circles are enclosed within large ritual areas including some henges (eg, Dorchester XI, Oxfordshire; Atkinson 1951; Whittle et al 1992), to which they may be related (Harding 1987, 26;Kinnes 1979, 67-9;Clare 1986, 287;1987, 459), or ring ditches (eg, Whitton Hill, Northumberland, Miket 1985) whereas others are unenclosed (Barford B, Warwickshire, Oswald et al 1969;Tanat, St. Joseph 1980, 51, fig. 4).…”

“…However, unabraded sherds from a possible Late Neolithic vessel (fabric 2) were recovered from the grave fill, ditch F216 (Phase 2A) and pit F301 (Phase 2D) which may indicate deposition when these features were open or during backfilling, perhaps suggesting contemporaneity. Ring ditches and pit circles are often found in close association with one another, for example at Dorchester-on-Thames (Atkinson 1951; Whittle et al 1992), Llandegai A (Houlder 1968), and Aldwincle (Jackson 1976).…”