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

Abstract

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.

Burial practices at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain: change or continuity?

“…The Ashanti only make a cursory attempt to re-articulate long bones before reburial (Rattrey 1959.115). The collections of bones in Neolithic tombs suggest that selection did occur, such as at Wayland's Smithy and Fussell's Lodge, where there is a general lack of small hand and foot bones (Whittle 1991;Mays 1998). Many small bones, however, survive on sites such as the shell middens on Oronsay (Meiklejohn et al 2005) and the causewayed enclosure at Hambledon Hill (Mercer 1980).…”

Editorial

“…Certainly the success for the backlog publication programme overseen by the government QUANGOs" of the British Isles over the last decade or two is evidence for this. The monumental publication on Stonehenge archives (Cleal et al 1995) and the admirable reports by Cardiff University of Richard Atkinson's excavations on Wayland's Smithy and Silbury Hill (Whittle 1991;1997), to name just prehistoric examples, demonstrate the importance of investing appropriate support in abandoned projects and their records.…”

THE NEOLITHIC of the AVEBURY AREA: SEQUENCE, ENVIRONMENT, SETTLEMENT and MONUMENTS

“…In the pre-enclosure phase there were small clusters of pits, postholes and small scatters of bone and artefacts. Elsewhere in the south of Britain, some if not many early monuments may have been small and simple (Darvill 1987), including the first phase at Wayland's Smithy not far to the north-east (Whittle 1991a). The Sweet Track shows more sustained woodland clearance some 70 km to the south-west (Coles and Coles 1986).…”

“…There are few traces of settlement, the Windmill Hill pre-enclosure evidence indicating small foci of activity or occupation. There is no specific evidence for the density of settlement, though the sparse surface lithic evidence from around the long barrow at Wayland's Smithy offers a model of dispersed, low-density settlement (Whittle 1991a). Bones of domesticated animals were recovered from the primary fill of the Horslip long barrow ditches.…”

“…The first monuments may have been modest affairs, though their significance cannot be measured by scale alone. Pits under the Horslip barrow, the sarsen pile under the South Street barrow, or perhaps the inner core of the West Kennet long barrow, can be cited, and would be matched by the primary mortuary structure at Wayland's Smithy (Whittle 1991a). The evidence from Millbarrow, though fragmentary, is important because it reinforces the likelihood of such beginnings having been common.…”