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 Dorchester-on-Thames, Site III, the Cursus

Site number 872

Burial codes 5005 5021 5023 5025 5028 5030 5032 5184 5200

3500bc - 2500bc The cursus is two roughly parallel, widely spaced ditches which run for a considerable distance between the River Thame and the Thames. There was probably a bank within each ditch. There was no evidence for the use of the site from excavations, but the association with other monuments connected with disposal of the dead, seen at other cursus sites, was repeated. Pottery evidence (Ebbsfleet sherds from the upper fill), a polished flint axe found and a radiocarbon date suggest a mid-Neolithic date. No human skeletal material was found.

RC: from antler in the primary ditch fill BM-2443 2560 +/- 100

[Order suggested by Whittle et al 1992: Dorchester Site VIII, 1, III, XI, II, I, IV, V, VI, 2, 3, XIV, XII, XIII, 4, VII, IX].

Remains/Period N5

County Oxfordshire

Region SE

National grid square SU

X coordinate 569

Y coordinate 958

Bibliographic source Whittle, Atkinson, Chambers and Thomas 1992

Query

Site name	Dorchester-on-Thames, Site III, the Cursus
Site number	872
Burial codes	5005 5021 5023 5025 5028 5030 5032 5184 5200
3500bc - 2500bc	The cursus is two roughly parallel, widely spaced ditches which run for a considerable distance between the River Thame and the Thames. There was probably a bank within each ditch. There was no evidence for the use of the site from excavations, but the association with other monuments connected with disposal of the dead, seen at other cursus sites, was repeated. Pottery evidence (Ebbsfleet sherds from the upper fill), a polished flint axe found and a radiocarbon date suggest a mid-Neolithic date. No human skeletal material was found. RC: from antler in the primary ditch fill BM-2443 2560 +/- 100 [Order suggested by Whittle et al 1992: Dorchester Site VIII, 1, III, XI, II, I, IV, V, VI, 2, 3, XIV, XII, XIII, 4, VII, IX].
Remains/Period	N5
County	Oxfordshire
Region	SE
National grid square	SU
X coordinate	569
Y coordinate	958
Bibliographic source	Whittle, Atkinson, Chambers and Thomas 1992