Attitudes to Disposal of the Dead - Gazetteer Query Form

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Note that there may be a few slight discrepancies between counts given in the text and the returned results in the gazetteer. This is a result of corrections and amendments (not updates) made to the gazetteer since the research was published in BAR. This does not materially affect the picture presented but does add more detail.

Site name Winterborne Steepleton 19c, Sheep Down

Site number 791

Burial codes 4005 4009 4021 4023 4025 4028 4030 4031 4043 4044 4047 4051 4053 4065 4075 4081 4082 4083 4092 4098 4104 4108 4109 4110 4111 4128 4143 4152 4153 4159 4161 4165 4181

2500bc-14/1300bc A pond barrow with a bank of chalk rubble, some earth and flint for all but 70o on the north west where it was earth, and set upon natural chalk. Within the bank was a pavement of large flint nodules 0.2m thick set on the natural chalk. The area of the barrow had been cleared to natural chalk, and the bank and pavement set upon it, the nodules being sorted out to form the inner pavement (deducible from local soil profiles). The pavement did not quite reach the inner edge of the bank.

Beneath the pavement there were 35 pits cut into the natural chalk. Eight pits (H-P) were empty, six being more central. Seven pits contained unaccompanied cremations and tended to lie in the annular space between pavement and bank, in the SW/NE arc. One of these (G) had been deposited in a woven birch basket. The others (A-F) contained simple deposits of cremated bones, mostly large fragments imperfectly burnt.

20 pits contained pots of the Early/Middle Bronze Age (food vessels, collared urns, and food/collared transitional types) and had been inserted into the flint platform. 2 pots (1 and 19) were upright, the rest inverted or on their sides. 4 pots accompanied actual burials (4 and 12 inverted over cremations, 6 and 20 on their sides with dismembered inhumations.

At least three pits had received secondary deposits. Pit 1 contained a small cremation deposit. Pit 4 contained the incomplete and scattered remains of a child c8, accompanied by an overhanging rim urn and fragment of a shouldered urn, in a loose soil with some flints and chalk rubble, charcoal fragments and dark patches of (?)decayed vegetable matter. Pit 12 contained a cremation and a pot of unidentifiable type. Pit 20 contained a small heap of inhumed bones with skull fragments on top, representing two babies 0-3 months old accompanied by a narrow rim urn, the pit being soil filled. This pit was central and may have been the primary cremation, the remaining pits being burials or offerings of different kinds.

Remains/Period Y4

County Dorset

Region S

National grid square SY

X coordinate 607

Y coordinate 890

Bibliographic source Farrar 1948, Wakefield 1949, Brailsford 1949, Atkinson 1950, Atkinson, Brailsford and Wakefield 1951, Grinsell 1959

Query

Site name	Winterborne Steepleton 19c, Sheep Down
Site number	791
Burial codes	4005 4009 4021 4023 4025 4028 4030 4031 4043 4044 4047 4051 4053 4065 4075 4081 4082 4083 4092 4098 4104 4108 4109 4110 4111 4128 4143 4152 4153 4159 4161 4165 4181
2500bc-14/1300bc	A pond barrow with a bank of chalk rubble, some earth and flint for all but 70o on the north west where it was earth, and set upon natural chalk. Within the bank was a pavement of large flint nodules 0.2m thick set on the natural chalk. The area of the barrow had been cleared to natural chalk, and the bank and pavement set upon it, the nodules being sorted out to form the inner pavement (deducible from local soil profiles). The pavement did not quite reach the inner edge of the bank. Beneath the pavement there were 35 pits cut into the natural chalk. Eight pits (H-P) were empty, six being more central. Seven pits contained unaccompanied cremations and tended to lie in the annular space between pavement and bank, in the SW/NE arc. One of these (G) had been deposited in a woven birch basket. The others (A-F) contained simple deposits of cremated bones, mostly large fragments imperfectly burnt. 20 pits contained pots of the Early/Middle Bronze Age (food vessels, collared urns, and food/collared transitional types) and had been inserted into the flint platform. 2 pots (1 and 19) were upright, the rest inverted or on their sides. 4 pots accompanied actual burials (4 and 12 inverted over cremations, 6 and 20 on their sides with dismembered inhumations. At least three pits had received secondary deposits. Pit 1 contained a small cremation deposit. Pit 4 contained the incomplete and scattered remains of a child c8, accompanied by an overhanging rim urn and fragment of a shouldered urn, in a loose soil with some flints and chalk rubble, charcoal fragments and dark patches of (?)decayed vegetable matter. Pit 12 contained a cremation and a pot of unidentifiable type. Pit 20 contained a small heap of inhumed bones with skull fragments on top, representing two babies 0-3 months old accompanied by a narrow rim urn, the pit being soil filled. This pit was central and may have been the primary cremation, the remaining pits being burials or offerings of different kinds.
Remains/Period	Y4
County	Dorset
Region	S
National grid square	SY
X coordinate	607
Y coordinate	890
Bibliographic source	Farrar 1948, Wakefield 1949, Brailsford 1949, Atkinson 1950, Atkinson, Brailsford and Wakefield 1951, Grinsell 1959