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 Sutton Veny 4a

Site number 443

Burial codes 4005 4009 4022 4023 4025 4028 4030 4043 4047 4051 4065 4075 4082 4084 4093 4098 4103 4106 4111 4123 4124 4152 4153 4157 4161 4181 4183 3001 3005 3022 3023 3025 3028 3030 3035 3042 3046 3051 3065 3075 3084 3092 3098 3104 3106 3130 3143 3152 3153 3182

2500bc-14/1300bc A bell barrow with a turf mound including some randomly distributed burnt turves. The base had to be cleared of light scrub before the barrow was built. A chalk capping for the mound was derived from the ditch.

A central grave just south west of the barrow centre measured 2.55m x 1.2m and was dug into the chalk, which was neatly piled at the edge. It contained a wooden coffin made of planks (sides and bottom), and the skeleton was accompanied by a miniature accessory vessel, a large finely decorated food vessel laid on its side by the knees, and a bronze dagger. The skeleton was of a male c28-35 lying on its right side, flexed and partly articulated at burial. The left arm may have been dissected or severed, and the head was found in two areas both unnaturally far from the body. The pattern of remains suggest an attempt at reordering a partly disarticulated body into a flexed posture. The coffin rested on a bier with four handles cut off square, and probably separately deposited since the bier was accurately placed in the grave and two turf masses were set between the two end frames of the bier to support the coffin on whose axis they had been accurately placed.

In the south east quadrant was an urn burial on the berm between mound and ditch, a collared urn with cremation of an adult female, set into the pre-barrow subsoil.

244 pieces of flint and chert including 17 artefacts were found in all layers of the barrow.

14/1300bc-8/700bc The north west quadrant contained an extended inhumation of an adult c24-28 with a sword cut to the head. On the chest was a shark's tooth (amulet?). The body lay in the very edge of the chalk crust and appears a primary 'satellite' burial, but the sword cut suggests a Late Bronze Age date, and a secondary burial therefore.

Remains/Period Y4 Y3

County Wiltshire

Region S

National grid square ST

X coordinate 913

Y coordinate 415

Bibliographic source Johnston 1980

Query

Site name	Sutton Veny 4a
Site number	443
Burial codes	4005 4009 4022 4023 4025 4028 4030 4043 4047 4051 4065 4075 4082 4084 4093 4098 4103 4106 4111 4123 4124 4152 4153 4157 4161 4181 4183 3001 3005 3022 3023 3025 3028 3030 3035 3042 3046 3051 3065 3075 3084 3092 3098 3104 3106 3130 3143 3152 3153 3182
2500bc-14/1300bc	A bell barrow with a turf mound including some randomly distributed burnt turves. The base had to be cleared of light scrub before the barrow was built. A chalk capping for the mound was derived from the ditch. A central grave just south west of the barrow centre measured 2.55m x 1.2m and was dug into the chalk, which was neatly piled at the edge. It contained a wooden coffin made of planks (sides and bottom), and the skeleton was accompanied by a miniature accessory vessel, a large finely decorated food vessel laid on its side by the knees, and a bronze dagger. The skeleton was of a male c28-35 lying on its right side, flexed and partly articulated at burial. The left arm may have been dissected or severed, and the head was found in two areas both unnaturally far from the body. The pattern of remains suggest an attempt at reordering a partly disarticulated body into a flexed posture. The coffin rested on a bier with four handles cut off square, and probably separately deposited since the bier was accurately placed in the grave and two turf masses were set between the two end frames of the bier to support the coffin on whose axis they had been accurately placed. In the south east quadrant was an urn burial on the berm between mound and ditch, a collared urn with cremation of an adult female, set into the pre-barrow subsoil. 244 pieces of flint and chert including 17 artefacts were found in all layers of the barrow.
14/1300bc-8/700bc	The north west quadrant contained an extended inhumation of an adult c24-28 with a sword cut to the head. On the chest was a shark's tooth (amulet?). The body lay in the very edge of the chalk crust and appears a primary 'satellite' burial, but the sword cut suggests a Late Bronze Age date, and a secondary burial therefore.
Remains/Period	Y4 Y3
County	Wiltshire
Region	S
National grid square	ST
X coordinate	913
Y coordinate	415
Bibliographic source	Johnston 1980