Attitudes to Disposal of the Dead - Gazetteer Query Form

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Site name Barton Hill Farm, Site 1, Streatley 30
Site number 125
Burial codes 5005 5009 5021 5024 5025 5028 5030 5034 5036 5042 5044 5045 5052 5053 5065 5072 5084 5092 5097 5103 5106 5108 5110 5121 5125 5128 5141 5142 5152 5153 5167 5168 5181
3500bc - 2500bc Henge-like enclosed cemetery comprising a regular circular ditch with an entrance causeway at the WNW and a probable external bank. Inside the enclosure at the centre were the sleeper trench foundations of a rectangular wooden mortuary enclosure 1.65m x 3.6m with an entrance gap 0.3m wide in the longer side. There were traces of two other separate fences to the north and east.

There were 2 crouched burials on the eastern inner side of the enclosure c1-1.2m from the ditch edge. These were possibly but not certainly of the same date as the mortuary enclosure. One skeleton was of an adult female c25-30, flexed, buried in a very constricted position and the legs bound, facing NW, showing evidence of exposure before burial perhaps in the mortuary structure, and was incomplete.

The other skeleton was of a youth c16, on its left side, crouched and facing NW, with an ox rib bone and a shale bead; it was also incomplete. Fine chalk silt and then chalk rubble covered the interment. Both were in shallow oval pits oriented NE in the south east quadrant of the enclosure.

The ditch floor had a trampled appearance, and the entrance to the enclosure was set lower than the inner enclosure surface, possibly allowing step access to the ditch as well. Some Middle Neolithic pottery and bones of ox, deer and pig were found in the ditch, mainly on the west side. The pottery found on the site was of the Middle Neolithic (compare Whiteleaf Site 124). A small regular pit 0.3m deep x 0.3m in diameter was dug into the inner SW face of the ditch and refilled with orange clay, otherwise appearing fresh and unused.

There were also two irregular depressions filled with orange clay, one containing two potsherds in the south west quadrant. One of the depressions appeared to be a tree root hole.
Remains/Period Y5
County Bedfordshire
Region SE
National grid square TL
X coordinate 93
Y coordinate 282
Bibliographic source Dyer 1959, 1962, Kinnes 1979


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Last updated: Tues Aug 10 2004