Attitudes to Disposal of the Dead - Gazetteer Query Form

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Site name Poynter's Garden, Hugh Town, St Mary's
Site number 1174
Burial codes 1005 1009 1021 1023 1025 1028 1030 1031 1042 1046 1051 1065 1071 1073 1084 1093 1094 1097 1103 1106 1108 1100 1111 1121 1124 1128 1143 1153 1154 1156 1181
100bc-AD43 A number of cist graves and boulder covered graves were discovered in building work, and were similar in structure and orientation to those found at Porth Cressa (Site 156). From seven of these there was evidence for contracted inhumations of 4 adult males (one c25-35), an adult female (c25-35), a child (c3.5) and another unidentifiable. In several cases the bodies seem to have been very tightly placed, and evidence suggests a generally N orientation. Clay may have been used to pack around the bodies. One burial (grave 2) was clearly set on its right side, head to S. The cists were set in pits, and showed a variety of form as at Porth Cressa, and some evidence in one case for a cairn having been heaped over the cist. Their size suggests that their cover stones were visible when finished.

Few things had accompanied the burials: a bronze pin and an iron pin was in grave 2, a flint scraper was in grave 1, and there were a few stones shaped or modified by use as implements. The pottery from the graves was hard to identify as it comprised small wall sherds, but the excavator viewed them as 1st (or 2nd) Century AD.
Remains/Period Y1
County Scilly
Region SW
National grid square SV
X coordinate 902
Y coordinate 105
Bibliographic source Dudley 1960-61, Ashbee 1974, Whimster 1981


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Last updated: Tues Aug 10 2004