Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities : : Petersfield Heath Excavations 2014-18 in Their Regional Context.

• Author: Needham, Stuart.
• TeilnehmendeR: Anelay, George.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden : : Sidestone Press,, 2022.; ©2021.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (690 pages)

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014-18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from excavations into one of its major cemeteries - Petersfield Heath, Hampshire. Fourteen of 21 surviving barrows were sampled by excavation, one of the fullest records for such a cemetery in modern times. In addition to diverse burial rites, the site yielded a range of 'other significant deposits' and totally novel insights into the organic artefact repertoire thanks to mineral replacement.There are substantial repercussions for the conventional classification of barrows and in this region the key difference between mound barrows and enclosure barrows is seen to have a socio-cultural background. This and other differences of approach to the siting and aggregation of barrows contribute to the reconstruction of 16 settled communities across the region. These emerge from a strong Mesolithic to Neolithic presence, the latter documented for the first time, and evidence including solstitial alignments suggests direct continuity to the Middle Bronze Age fieldscapes of the region.This book is supported by a separate volume containing an extensive body of supplementary information and evaluation. Together they contain much new for those researching the period, early burial practices and the prehistoric occupation of the western Weald. They will also galvanise debates about variations in the character of barrowscapes across Britain and the place of the Wessex barrow foci.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- List of contributors -- Image credits -- Summary of the volume -- Section 1 The History and Archaeology of Petersfield Heath -- People of the Heath Project -- Stuart Needham and George Anelay -- Background to the project, objectives and strategy -- Defining the regional study area -- Previous archaeological work in the Rother Region -- Round barrows, the Chalcolithic and the Bronze Age -- Modern excavations of barrow cemeteries -- Preliminary research for the excavations -- Geology and soil profiles of the Heath -- Structure of the volume -- The Archaeology of Petersfield Heath: the State of Knowledge -- Stuart Needham and George Anelay -- Cartographic history of Petersfield Heath barrow cemetery -- Previous investigations and finds -- Size, distribution and structure of the cemetery -- The Heath in Documented History -- Early history by Robert Banbury -- Military and recreational use of the Heath by David Jeffery -- Section 2 Petersfield Heath Excavations -- In Situ Mesolithic Sites -- George Anelay and Stuart Needham -- Site 1 -- Site 11 -- Site 13 -- Site 18 -- Site 19 -- Site 21 -- Site 23 -- Site 24 -- 52 Heath Road -- 78 Heath Road -- Distribution of Mesolithic flintwork across the Heath -- Early Bronze Age Enclosure Barrows -- George Anelay and Stuart Needham -- Barrow 4, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 12, north-western subgroup -- Barrow 14, south-western subgroup -- Barrow 19, south-western subgroup -- Barrow 24, north-western subgroup -- Early Bronze Age Mound Barrows -- George Anelay and Stuart Needham -- Barrow 1, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 2, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 3, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 5, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 6, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 7, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 8, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 9, north-eastern subgroup.

Barrow 10, north-eastern subgroup -- Barrow 11, north-western subgroup -- Barrow 13, south-western subgroup -- Barrow 15, south-western subgroup -- Barrow 18, south-western subgroup -- Barrow 20, south-western subgroup -- Barrow 22, north-western subgroup -- Barrow 23, north-western subgroup -- Modern and Natural Sites -- George Anelay and Stuart Needham -- Site 17 -- Site 21 -- Section 3 Burials and Other Significant Deposits -- Burials in Graves and Coffins -- Barrow 11, central burial zone by Stuart Needham and George Anelay -- Explanation of the intermittent organic preservation by Gill Campbell -- Barrow 13, central burial and associated features by Stuart Needham and George Anelay -- Barrow 19, earlier central burial [405] by George Anelay and Stuart Needham -- Barrow 19, later central burial [406] by George Anelay, Stuart Needham and Carol Hartzenberg -- Urn Burials -- Jane King and Stuart Needham -- Lifting and preparing the urns for micro-excavation -- Micro-excavation methodology -- Urn 1, Barrow 8 -- Urn 2, Barrow 19 NE quadrant -- Urn 3, Barrow 19 centre -- Urn 4, Barrow 14 NW quadrant -- Other Significant Deposits -- Stuart Needham and George Anelay -- Artefact deposits -- Ecofact deposits (charcoal and other wood) -- Section 4 Excavated Finds, Environmental Evidence and Dating -- Bone Studies -- Cremated human bone by Emily Carroll -- Burnt animal bone fragments by Polydora Baker -- Strontium isotopes on cremated human remains by Rick Schulting, John Pouncett and Christophe Snoeck -- Prehistoric Flintwork and a Review of the Regional Mesolithic -- Excavated flintwork assemblages from Petersfield Heath by Anthony Haskins -- The Mesolithic of the Rother Region by Anthony Haskins and Robert Banbury -- Artefact Studies -- Flintwork from burials: making arrow and fire by Clément Nicolas.

Worked and unworked stone by Stuart Needham, with stone identifications by David Bone and a contribution from Peter Leeming -- Fossils by Peter Leeming -- Prehistoric pottery and other fired-clay objects -- Catalogue of Early Bronze Age pottery by Ann Woodward and Stuart Needham -- Discussion of Early Bronze Age pottery -- Early first millennium BC pottery by Stuart Needham -- Silt plaques, Barrow 19 Urn 3 burial by Stuart Needham -- Romano-British to modern pottery by Duncan H. Brown -- Bronze Age metalwork -- Dagger description and identification by Stuart Needham -- Analysis by Sarah Paynter -- Bronze Age beads by Alison Sheridan -- Mineral-replaced and stratigraphically implied organics by Stuart Needham -- Worked and unworked wood by Stuart Needham -- Environmental Studies -- Past vegetation cover and human environment of Petersfield Heath by Michael Simmonds, Nicholas Branch, Deborah Cousins and Kevin Williams -- Geoarchaeological studies by Matthew Canti and Stuart Needham -- Specialist Dating Evidence and Site Phasing -- Radiocarbon dating and Bayesian modelling of the Early Bronze Age dates by Stuart Needham, Peter Marshall and George Anelay -- Optically stimulated luminescence dating by Mark Bateman -- Site phasing by Stuart Needham -- Section 5 Barrows in the Rother Region -- The Regional Barrow Survey -- Stuart Needham -- Methodology -- Potential confusions: other man-made mounds/enclosures and natural landscape features -- Classification of barrow morphologies in the Rother Region -- Aspects of detailed barrow morphology -- Overall composition of Rother Region barrows -- Mound dimensions -- Overview -- Barrows in the Landscape: Density, Topographic Settings, Formations and Alignments -- Stuart Needham and Sabine Stevenson -- Regional environment -- Topographic setting of barrows -- Barrow-group formations -- Solstitial alignments.

Mound-size distributions -- Overview -- Patterns of Destruction and Survival in the Barrowscape -- Stuart Needham and Sabine Stevenson -- Land-use history and barrow survival -- Zonal analysis -- Overview -- Section 6 Synthesis -- Bronze Age Funerary Deposits and Structures in the Rother Region -- Stuart Needham -- Chalcolithic and transitional burials from the wider region (c. 2450‑2200/2150 BC) -- Early burials and grave goods from the Rother Region (c. 2200/2150‑1950 BC) -- Later burials and grave goods from the Rother Region (c. 1950‑1550 BC) -- Poorly dated Early Bronze Age burials -- Middle Bronze Age burials (c. 1600‑1150 BC) -- Barrow structures -- Overview -- Neolithic and Bronze Age Occupation of the Rother Region -- Stuart Needham and Sabine Stevenson -- Vegetation background -- Neolithic activity -- Field systems, house sites and settlements -- Flintwork assemblages -- Diagnostic early metal age flintwork -- Bronze Age metalwork -- Overview -- Identifying Early Bronze Age Communities -- Stuart Needham -- Principles of analysis -- Barrow-based differentiations -- Communities -- Ancestral guardianship of the land -- Overview -- Petersfield Heath, Enclosure Barrows and Cultural Differentiation -- Stuart Needham and George Anelay -- Early occupants of Petersfield Heath and its environs -- Enter the barrow builders -- After the barrows -- Communities, livelihoods and population -- The barrow gradient and cultural backgrounds -- Petersfield Heath: setting, cosmology and position in the regional structure -- Postscript: Barrow 31 -- References -- Blank Page -- Blank Page.