Attitudes to Disposal of the Dead - Gazetteer Query Form

Background to the Gazetteer | Table of Contents


Query

Site name Barrow C, Churn Plain, Churn Bottom
Site number 135
Burial codes 4005 4009 4022 4023 4025 4028 4030 4035 4042 4046 4051 4065 4075 4084 4091 4098 4104 4111 4128 4143 4152 4153 4181 2005 2022 2023 2025 2028 2030 2035 2036 2152 2153 2184
2500bc-14/1300bc Of three barrows, barrow C contained a central cremation and a double pit. The mound contained much wood ash and pottery, and at the core a mass of black soil. At the barrow centre was the cremation burial of a female adult and a child c2-3, with 0.3m away a flat riveted bronze dagger of the Early Bronze Age. The cremation deposit was clean of earth, and the bones had been crushed.

The excavator noticed these points about the barrow construction: a ring or basin of wet chalk rubble was first raised on the old ground surface, and more chalk powdered and moistened and spread over it, then trodden into a concrete. On the smooth surface in the middle of the ring was spread a layer of clear, red, moist clay c1cm thick, and on this the funeral pyre was built and then burnt. In the course of collecting the cremated bones, the ash of the pyre was thrown out to the side, hence its appearance here and there in the mound. Clayey soil was then used as the core mound material to cover the cremation deposit, followed by lighter soil from the surrounding ground surface.
8/700bc-100bc The double pit was just south of the centre, and comprised two pits irregularly cut and joined near one end. In both sections of the pit there was much wood ash, animal bone and a large amount of Early Iron Age pottery. There were also a dozen Windmill Hill potsherds in two lots in the material, which appeared to have been swept in with the infill. There was no recorded burial.
Remains/Period Y4 N2
County Oxfordshire
Region SE
National grid square SU
X coordinate 520
Y coordinate 833
Bibliographic source Wilson 1848, Hawkes and Hawkes 1935, Peake 1936


Query

© Internet Archaeology/Author(s)
Last updated: Tues Aug 10 2004