Building Memories: The Neolithic Cotswold Long Barrow at Ascott-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire (Cardiff Studies in Archaeology)

It is just over forty years since the start of the excavations of the Ascott-under-Wychwood long barrow (1965-69) under the direction of Don Benson. The excavations belonged to the latter part of a great period of barrow digging in southern Britain, which was ending just as, by striking contrast, intensified investigation and fieldwork at causewayed enclosures were beginning. Although a long gap has passed since the excavations took place, they have nonetheless produced a rich and important set of results, and the analysis has been enhanced by more recent techniques. The site now joins Burn Ground and Hazleton North as one of only three Cotswold long barrows or cairns to have been more or less fully excavated. The barrow had been built in two main stages, in a series of bays defined by lines of stakes and stone, and filled mainly with earth and turf, with some stone; it was enclosed or faced by stone walling, the outermost being of very fine quality. The barrow contained two opposed pairs of stone cists, each with a short passage from the long sides of the monument. The cists and passages contained the remains of some 21 people (of all ages and both sexes), probably deposited in a variety of forms from fleshed inhumations to incomplete secondary remains and cremations. The barrow was built in the 38th century cal BC and was probably one of the earliest such constructions in the region. It was probably in use for only three to five generations, lasting into the 37th century cal BC. Occupation features from the early fourth millennium cal BC included small pits, hearths and two small timber post structures, and there were finds of pottery, flint, axe fragments, stone querns and animal bone. People used cattle, sheep and pigs, and there is a range of wild species, especially in the midden. The authors of this report not only document the finds and research, but also address wider questions of how the early Neolithic inhabitants viewed their society through the barrow, and how the development of the site reflected memory and interaction with a changing world. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Colour Plates List of Contributors Preface Acknowledgements Archives Radiocarbon Dates Summary Résumé Zusammenfassung Chapter 1: The Excavations of 1965–1969 Location and setting Geology and topography: further detail Fiona Roe The circumstances of the excavations The role of the Oxford City and County Museum Early site records and recent history The trial excavation of 1965 Excavations 1966–1969 Introduction Site recording Finds recording 1966: the western end 1967: the eastern end 1968: the burials 1969: the final season The fate of the long barrow Post-excavation analysis Chapter 2: The Pre-Barrow Contexts Introduction The character of the buried soil The extent of the buried soil Surface topography The buried soil surface and the buried soil profile Mesolithic occupation Neolithic occupation The Neolithic midden Other, uncertain, pre-barrow features Chapter 3: The Environmental Setting The snails Introduction The site of Ascott-under-Wychwood long barrow General comments on sequence The Mesolithic tree-throw F11 The question of woodland closing in the Mesolithic The buried soil The large, hand-picked snails The Neolithic quarry infilling: the prehistoric soils The Neolithic quarry: the historical period The Roman quarry Modern faunas on limestone in the area of Ascott-under-Wychwood The Warburg Reserve A pre-barrow thin section Richard Macphail Methods Results and discussion Note by J. G. Evans and Ian Cornwall Charcoals Discussion The tree-throw pit, F11 The molluscan faunas The immediate pre-barrow environment The barrow and post-barrow environments Other sites in the region with molluscan faunas Chapter 4: The Long Barrow Barrow construction The main elements of construction Geology of stone used in the construction Timber posts in wooden structures and axial divides Midden and cists Stone cists Stone cists and the axial divide The axial divide in the area of the primary barrow The dismantling of the axial divide in the area of the cists (7/16) Stone cists and the north-south transverse corridor The bays Preliminary description of bays and defining off-sets Distinct deposits of large limestone blocks Further building: early phases in the western areas of the construction site Further building: early phases in the eastern area of the construction site Upper fills of bays Off-set partitions that were constructed over bay fills Further developments: the infilling of the transverse corridor and the construction of passage areas and the inner walls The infilling of the transverse corridor The southern passage area The northern passage area The inner walls The primary eastern end of the barrow Additional partitions and bays: the secondary barrow Preliminary description of axial divide, bays and defining off-sets The axial divide The bays Inner walls The outer walls Preliminary description of the outer walls Initial discussion of the outer walls The secondary eastern end of the barrow The northern outermost passage Stone outside the outer wall The quarries The filling of the cists General character of the human bone deposits (and see Chapter 5) The excavation of the cists The covering of the cists The filling of the cists The upper filling The upper filling/main human bone deposit interface The matrix of the human bone deposits in the cists The passage deposits Deposit C in the southern passage Deposit E in the northern passage Deposit F on the stone packing between the pairs of cists An outline of a construction process Chapter 5: The Layout, Composition and Sequence of the Human Bone Deposits Introduction Deposit A: southern inner cist Deposit B: southern outer cist Deposit C: southern passage area Deposit D: northern inner cist Deposit E: northern passage Deposit F: between the pairs of cists Issues for further discussion Chapter 6: The Human Remains Introduction Problems Post-excavation mixing Missing and retrieved elements The physical anthropology: methods Identification Determining the MNI Cross-deposit analysis Sex determination Morphological assessment of sex Metric assessment of sex Age estimation Stature Individual identification and skeletal representation Preservation and post mortem modification Deposit analysis and individual case studies Deposit A (southern inner cist) Deposit B (southern outer cist) Deposit C (southern passage area) Deposit D (northern inner cist) Deposit E (northern passage) Deposit F (between the pairs of cists) Health status Congenital and developmental abnormalities Infectious disease Degenerative joint disease Trauma Dental anthropology Dental disease Dental anomalies Summary The arrowhead injury to Individual B2 Christopher Knüsel Chapter 7: Interpreting Chronology: The Radiocarbon Dating Programme Introduction General approach Objectives Sampling Radiocarbon analysis and quality assurance The results Calibration Analysis and interpretation Stage one Stage two Stage three Alternative models Conclusions Chapter 8: The Animal Bones Introduction and methods Results Material by phase and feature type Pre-barrow Neolithic Barrow construction Discussion Domestic species Wild species Sides and sex Butchery Worked bone Pathologies Measurements Comparisons Conclusions Chapter 9: Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Compositions of Animal and Human Bone Introduction Aims of the study Isotopic measurements Faunal bones Human bones Errors and the comparison between humans and fauna The results Collagen preservation Species variation Depositional context differences Outliers Summary of the average values of the fauna Comparison of faunal with human stable isotope values Significance of the human – faunal difference in δ15N Conclusions Chapter 10: The Early Neolithic Pottery and Fired Clay Introduction Methods Fabrics with Chris Doherty Manufacture Form analysis Rim morphology Shoulder morphology ?Bases Vessel morphology Cups/small bowls Bowls Surface treatment and decoration Assemblage characterisation and range Evidence for use and function Catalogue Discussion of pottery Some general considerations Manufacture, vessel range and use The range of pots Discard of vessels: the ‘death’ assemblage Distribution of the pottery in pre-mound contexts Pottery from the cists Comparisons with other assemblages Fired clay Clay beads Chapter 11: Organic Residue Analysis Introduction Materials and methods Solvent extraction of lipid residues Preparation of trimethylsilyl derivatives Saponification of total lipid extracts Preparation of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) derivatives Pottery vessels Results Discussion Chapter 12: The Flint Contributors Introduction Methods Raw material Discussion of stratified flint assemblages The buried soil Features in the buried soil The barrow mound The cists and passages Neolithic quarries Roman quarry Nineteenth-century quarrying Outside the barrow mound Discussion The Mesolithic assemblage The Neolithic assemblage Catalogue of illustrated flint Chatper 13: The Worked Stone Objects Introduction Materials The objects Discussion chapter 14: Post-Neolithic Finds Roman pottery Introduction The pottery Discussion Roman coins Discussion of the Roman evidence Metalwork Introduction Selected pieces Chapter 15: Place and Time: Building and Remembrance Evaluation: results, problems and themes Results: an overview Problems and themes Connections and networks: a wider world and other places Uses and continuities of place: Mesolithic into Neolithic Making architecture Neolithic space The past as a resource Further assemblages of things Quick architecture Building Building: issues of form and completion Possible sequences of enclosing walling Instability and decay of the outer walls Questions of final form: completion or cessation? Dealing with the dead More intimate histories Context and sequence one more time Treatment of the dead Communality of the body: inhabitation, Building memories Context and change Temporalities and pasts, memories and states of mind: the multiple dimensions of a history Bibliography

It is just over forty years since the start of the excavations of the Ascott-under-Wychwood long barrow (1965-69) under the direction of Don Benson. The excavations belonged to the latter part of a great period of barrow digging in southern Britain, which was ending just as, by striking contrast, intensified investigation and fieldwork at causewayed enclosures were beginning. Although a long gap has passed since the excavations took place, they have nonetheless produced a rich and important set of results, and the analysis has been enhanced by more recent techniques. The site now joins Burn Ground and Hazleton North as one of only three Cotswold long barrows or cairns to have been more or less fully excavated. The authors of this report not only document the finds and research, but also address wider questions of how the early Neolithic inhabitants viewed their society through the barrow, and how the development of the site reflected memory and interaction with a changing world.