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 Bishops Cannings 81, Hemp Knoll

Site number 464

Burial codes 5003 5022 5023 5025 5028 5030 5036 5053 5153 5184 4005 4007 4009 4021 4023 4025 4028 4030 4035 4043 4046 4048 4051 4052 4053 4065 4071 4072 4075 4081 4093 4098 4101 4104 4107 4108 4110 4122 4125 4128 4129 4143 4151 4152 4153 4161 4165 4168 4169 4170 4181 4200

3500bc - 2500bc Neolithic settlement underlying a barrow. Five oval pits containing pottery fragments, flint, animal bone, charcoal and hazel nuts. An entire but shattered eastern Neolithic bowl was recovered. Two pits were very rich in deposits, three containing brown humic earth and chalk. The pits were aligned.

RC: HAR-2997 2630 +/- 80

2500bc-14/1300bc A round barrow with ditch, built on a Neolithic settlement site. The barrow was constructed with the central grave pit being dug first, the ditch then being marked out off-centre, the turf stripped except for a small area under the pit upcast on the north and north east edges of the grave, a turf mound was raised over the central area, the ditch fully dug out, and the chalk capping set over the turf mound. The central grave pit was oriented NW/SE, dug into the chalk and measured 2.25m x 2m x 1.5m deep. Its original sides were slightly weathered. In it was placed a coffin probably of wickerwork, containing a crouched inhumation of an adult male c35-45, head to the east, but the body generally oriented NW. It was tightly flexed, the left palm lying under the head, and appears to have been laid in a tightly bound bundle. With it was a wrist guard, a bone belt ring or toggle and a bell Beaker by its feet. In the south east corner of the grave pit in the grave infilling but outside the the coffin lay the complete head and four hooves of an ox, the probable remains of an oxhide buried with head and hooves attached. One horn had pierced the coffin top in settlement.

Outside the central grave to the north west was an unaccompanied skeleton of a child c3, orientated head to NW, on its left side, in a medium flexed position. It was placed on the stripped chalk surface, and probably was contemporary with the other inhumations. A pit had been later dug into the centre of the mound and the grave upcast, and an adult cremation inserted, covered by an inverted undecorated food vessel.

The barrow ditch contained evidence of a flint industry from waste flakes, especially in the north east and south east quadrants.

RC: from bone sample in Pit 1 HAR-2997 2630 +/- 80, from oak charcoal associated with north end of the coffin HAR-2998 1590 +/- 70 and NPL-139 1795 +/- 135, and from an auroch's shoulder blade in the chalk capping BM-1585 1810 +/- 60

Remains/Period Y4 N5

County Wiltshire

Region S

National grid square SU

X coordinate 68

Y coordinate 673

Bibliographic source Robertson-Mackay 1980

Query

Site name	Bishops Cannings 81, Hemp Knoll
Site number	464
Burial codes	5003 5022 5023 5025 5028 5030 5036 5053 5153 5184 4005 4007 4009 4021 4023 4025 4028 4030 4035 4043 4046 4048 4051 4052 4053 4065 4071 4072 4075 4081 4093 4098 4101 4104 4107 4108 4110 4122 4125 4128 4129 4143 4151 4152 4153 4161 4165 4168 4169 4170 4181 4200
3500bc - 2500bc	Neolithic settlement underlying a barrow. Five oval pits containing pottery fragments, flint, animal bone, charcoal and hazel nuts. An entire but shattered eastern Neolithic bowl was recovered. Two pits were very rich in deposits, three containing brown humic earth and chalk. The pits were aligned. RC: HAR-2997 2630 +/- 80
2500bc-14/1300bc	A round barrow with ditch, built on a Neolithic settlement site. The barrow was constructed with the central grave pit being dug first, the ditch then being marked out off-centre, the turf stripped except for a small area under the pit upcast on the north and north east edges of the grave, a turf mound was raised over the central area, the ditch fully dug out, and the chalk capping set over the turf mound. The central grave pit was oriented NW/SE, dug into the chalk and measured 2.25m x 2m x 1.5m deep. Its original sides were slightly weathered. In it was placed a coffin probably of wickerwork, containing a crouched inhumation of an adult male c35-45, head to the east, but the body generally oriented NW. It was tightly flexed, the left palm lying under the head, and appears to have been laid in a tightly bound bundle. With it was a wrist guard, a bone belt ring or toggle and a bell Beaker by its feet. In the south east corner of the grave pit in the grave infilling but outside the the coffin lay the complete head and four hooves of an ox, the probable remains of an oxhide buried with head and hooves attached. One horn had pierced the coffin top in settlement. Outside the central grave to the north west was an unaccompanied skeleton of a child c3, orientated head to NW, on its left side, in a medium flexed position. It was placed on the stripped chalk surface, and probably was contemporary with the other inhumations. A pit had been later dug into the centre of the mound and the grave upcast, and an adult cremation inserted, covered by an inverted undecorated food vessel. The barrow ditch contained evidence of a flint industry from waste flakes, especially in the north east and south east quadrants. RC: from bone sample in Pit 1 HAR-2997 2630 +/- 80, from oak charcoal associated with north end of the coffin HAR-2998 1590 +/- 70 and NPL-139 1795 +/- 135, and from an auroch's shoulder blade in the chalk capping BM-1585 1810 +/- 60
Remains/Period	Y4 N5
County	Wiltshire
Region	S
National grid square	SU
X coordinate	68
Y coordinate	673
Bibliographic source	Robertson-Mackay 1980