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Site name Shapwick 6a, The Badbury Barrow
Site number 746
Burial codes 4005 4009 4021 4023 4025 4028 4030 4035 4036 4037 4043 4044 4047 4051 4052 4053 4065 4072 4074 4075 4081 4083 4084 4093 4098 4102 4104 4108 4110 4111 4128 4129 4143 4152 4154 4156 4161 4181
2500bc-14/1300bc A bowl barrow with a massive circular wall of sandstone blocks, the interstices packed with flints, 9m in diameter. Outside of this was a ring of chalk, probably the original cover of the mound. Inside was a 0.9-1.2m wide bed of flints packed from the surface to the barrow summit. Within this was a central cairn of local sandstone blocks. The interments appear to have been in this central cairn protected by the blocks in various arrangements of cists. The observer of the cairn's demolition believed that the interments were deposited successively over a period of time, covered with earth and protected by stone. The earth mound contained much broken pottery and frequent finds of horse and sheep's teeth, and a boar's tusk.

At the centre were 6 deposits: an unaccompanied young child burial, a cist containing burnt bone and ash, a secondary cist near it containing burnt bone and ash below which was set a cist with an inverted urn filled with clean white dry bone, and three burnt bone and ash deposits covered with sandstones. Just south of the centre was a disarticulated skeleton of a young child covered by a sandstone, and 0.3m away a deposit of a female disarticulated skeleton. Above was a thin layer of burnt wood, in turn covered with sandstones. The inhumations were probably primary, and two were each accompanied by a food vessel, the third by an ornamented two handled pot like those of Cornish type.

West of the centre was an inverted urn containing burnt bone and ash, and resting on part of a broken skull; it was unprotected. There was an upright urn nearby, plain and empty; a deposit of burnt wood at the west side of a large flat stone set on edge beneath which rested on the chalk a small inverted urn, beside which were some small human bones. South east of this was an oblong cist containing ashes, a few burnt bones and a large human tooth. 0.9m further east was a crouched burial of a small child oriented EW.

At the north west of the barrow 1.5m within the wall was a chalk cut cist containing an inverted urn holding burnt bones, set in an ash filling. Right by this was a square cist covered by a slab, containing a flexed burial of a young child accompanied by a small urn by the ribs, and an incense cup by the feet. Just to the south of this were two cists covered by a deposit of burnt wood.

In the centre was a large slab of sandstone on which were carvings of daggers and axes.
Remains/Period Y4
County Dorset
Region S
National grid square ST
X coordinate 948
Y coordinate 36
Bibliographic source Austen 1846, Warne 1866, Grinsell 1959


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Last updated: Tues Aug 10 2004