Hambledon Hill, Dorset, England: Excavation and Survey of a Neolithic Monument Complex and Its Surrounding Landscape. Vol. 1-2

With contributions by Michael J. Allen, Phil Austin, Alistair Barclay, Alex Bayliss, Martin Bell, Robert Berstan, Lisa Brown, Catherine Chisham, Alison Cook, Mark Copley, Michael Cowell, Timothy Darvill, Richard Evershed, Jonathon Hather, Hillary Howard, Su Johnson, Glynis Jones, Robin Kenward, Moira Laidlaw, A. J. Legge, F. G. McCormac, J. I. McKinley, Stuart Needham, Alastair Oswald, Rog Palmer, C Bronk Ramsey, Michael Richards, Fiona Roe, Alan Saville, Isobel Smith, Rachael Seager Smith, Bob Smith, Elizabeth Somerville, Andrew Stott, and Nick Wells, and principal illustrations by Silvia Stevenson and John Borland. E-book (PDF) published 2013. A programme of excavation and survey directed by Roger Mercer between 1974 and 1986 demonstrated that Hambledon was the site of an exceptionally large and diverse complex of earlier Neolithic earthworks, including two causewayed enclosures, two long barrows and several outworks, some of them defensive. The abundant cultural material preserved in its ditches and pits provides information about numerous aspects of contemporary society, among them conflict, feasting, the treatment of the human corpse, exchange, stock management and cereal cultivation. The distinct depositional signatures of various parts of the complex reflect their diverse use. The scale and manner of individual episodes of construction hint at the levels of organisation and co-ordination obtaining in contemporary society. Use of the complex and the construction of its various elements were episodic and intermittent, spread over 300-400 hundred years, and did not entail lasting settlement. As well as stone axe heads exchanged from remote sources, more abundant grinding equipment and pottery from adjacent regions may point to the areas from which people came to the hill. If so, it had important links with territories to the west, north-west and south, in other words with land off the Wessex Chalk, at the edge of which the complex lies. Within the smaller compass of the immediate area of the hill, including Cranborne Chase, field walking survey suggests that the hill was the main focus of earlier Neolithic activity. A complementary relationship with the Chase is indicated by a fairly abrupt diminution of activity on the hill in the late fourth millennium, when the massive Dorset cursus and several smaller monuments were built in the Chase. Renewed activity on the hill in the late third millennium and early second millennium was a prelude to occupation on and around the hill in the second millennium in the mid to late second millennium, which was followed by the construction of a hillfort on the northern spur from the early first millennium. Late Iron Age and Romano-British activity may reflect the proximity of Hod Hill. A small pagan Saxon cemetery may relate to settlement in the Iwerne valley which it overlooks. 9781848021600_all 1 Front Cover 1 Prelims 3 Half Title 3 Quotes 4 Title Page 5 Contents 7 Contributors 10 Acknowledgements 12 Summary 15 Résumé 16 Zusammenfassung 17 The archive 18 Note on the use of radiocarbon determinations 18 Chapter 1 - Introduction 19 Chapter 2 - The field survey 33 Chapter 3 - Excavations 59 Chapter 4 - Interpreting chronology 396 Endmatter 430 Fig 2.2 - The area survey 430 Imprint 432 9781848021600_all 433 Front Cover 433 Prelims 435 Half Title 435 Quotes 436 Title Page 437 Contents 439 Chapter 5 - Molluscan and sedimentary evidence for the palaeoenvironmental history of Hambledon Hill and its surroundings 442 Chapter 6 - Charcoal and charred plant remains 484 Chapter 7 - Human remains and diet 507 Chapter 8 - Livestock and Neolithic society at Hambledon Hill 566 Chapter 9 - Pottery and fired clay 617 Chapter 10 - Lithics 660 Chapter 11 - In conclusion ... 774 Colour plates 811 Plate I 811 Plate II 811 Plate III 811 Plate IV 812 Plate V 812 Plate VI 812 Plate VII 813 Plate VIII 813 Plate IX 813 Endmatter 815 Bibliography 815 Index 834 Imprint 852 Contributors viii Acknowledgements x Summaries xiii The archive xvi Note on the use of radiocarbon determinations xvi Volume 1 1. Introduction 1 2. The field survey 15 3. Excavations 41 4. Interpreting chronology 378 Volume 2 5. Molluscan and sedimentary evidence for the palaeoenvironmental history of Hambledon Hill and its surroundings 412 6. Charcoal and charred plant remains 454 7. Human remains and diet 477 8. Livestock and Neolithic society at Hambledon Hill 536 9. Pottery and fired clay 587 10. Lithics 630 11. In conclusion 744 Colour plates Bibliography 781 Index 800 Two volume study resulting from the excavation and survey directed by Roger Mercer between 1974 and 1986, which demonstrated that Hambledon was the site of an exceptionally large and diverse complex of earlier Neolithic earthworks.