Attitudes to Disposal of the Dead - Gazetteer Query Form

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Site name The Sanctuary, Overton Hill
Site number 496
Burial codes 5003 5022 5023 5025 5028 5030 5053 5153 5184 4005 4009 4022 4024 4025 4028 4030 4034 4042 4047 4051 4053 4065 4073 4075 4084 4092 4098 4101 4104 4108 4111 4125 4129 4143 4153 4181
3500bc - 2500bc Overlap site with 2500-14/1300.
2500bc-14/1300bc A monument comprising an earlier phase of concentric wooden post rings, and a final phase of two concentric stone circles, all circles using the same centre point. It connected in its later phase with the West Kennet Avenue at the west north west point which links it with Avebury.

A single burial was found of a very crouched skeleton of a dolichocephalic ('Long Barrow') youth c14-15 lying in a shallow grave on the inner side of stone hole C12 in the 'Stone and Post Ring', on the east side of the rings behind the one single post hole in the 'Bank Holiday' ring. The skeleton lay on its right side, head to S, facing east, in a grave 0.45m deep x 0.9m x 0.6m which intersected the stone hole and was made at the same time. The arms were crossed above the elbow before the face, head forward, legs crossed below the knee. In front of the legs below the knee was a type B Beaker. Some burnt and some unburnt animal bones had been laid on the body (ox, pig and deer antler fragments).

Three pieces of a lower jaw were scattered in stone hole C16 of the 'Stone and Post Ring'. The pottery found on the site (apart from some Iron Age and Romano-British sherds) was all of the Peterborough (Mortlake, Fengate) type and grooved ware in primary contexts, or Beaker in secondary, and in post or stone holes mainly in the rings A, C, D, E, and G.
Remains/Period Y5 Y4
County Wiltshire
Region S
National grid square SU
X coordinate 118
Y coordinate 680
Bibliographic source Cunnington M E 1931, Pollard 1992


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Last updated: Tues Aug 10 2004