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COMBE HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE

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The Neolithic causewayed enclosure on Combe Hill survives as well-preserved earthworks. The enclosure was surveyed by RCHME in 1995 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. The enclosure is located conspicuously on the crest of the scarp slope of the South Downs, occupying a slight saddle. The earthworks consist of an almost complete inner circuit, broken only at the steep scarp to the north, and an outer circuit visible to the east and west but vestigial to the south, with possible cross-ridge dykes beyond it. This uneven survival may reflect deliberate demolition at some time in the past. The area enclosed by the outer circuit is in the region of 1.7 ha. Particularly wide causeways in the south and east of the inner circuit are suggestive of entrances. In the early twentieth century the enclosure was surveyed by Hadrian Allcroft, and the site was first noted as a possible causewayed enclosure by Mrs Keiller in 1929. The earthworks were surveyed by Curwen. Excavations by Musson in 1949 and Seton-Williams, though small in scale, confirmed the Neolithic date. Finds have included Neolithic pottery, some animal bones, numerous flint flakes, flint axes including a group of three found together in a ditch segment, a quern fragment, and a leaf-shaped arrowhead. A few sherds of Iron Age or Roman pottery were also found. A chalk object of phallic appearance found within the enclosure in 1983 is not believed to be Neolithic. Its findspot coincided exactly with one of Seton-Williams' trenches. Recent research into the dating of causewayed enclosures suggests that the enclosure was probably built at some point from the mid 37th century BC onwards (from about 3650 cal BC). The plan of Combe Hill suggests a multi-staged history, and the results of excavation so far indicate that it saw a low level of deposition and perhaps of frequentation.

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(TQ 574022) Neolithic Camp (NR). (1)

Combe Hill Camp consists of an oval ring of interrupted ditches and bank with an interrupted outlier on the W and traces of another on the E and SE. In each case the bank is remarkable in being interrupted almost as frequently as the ditch, which is unusual, even in Neolithic camps. (2)

Excavation on a small area on the W side of the inner ring by Reginald Musson for Eastbourne NH & AS in 1949. (See plan). The ditch on both sides of a causeway was examined, and the causeway and adjacent bank explored for post-holes without finding any. The ditch S of the causeway yielded nearly 1000 sherds of Ebbsfleet ware, but there was no Neolithic 'A' pottery. Finds included a leaf arrowhead, a flint scraper, and some 400 flakes, in addition to grain-rubbers, animal bones and charcoal. (3)

A bi-vallate causewayed camp situated toward the western end of Combe Hill: generally as described and planned by Musson. It is under pasture, though gorse has encroached onto it, and the outer rampart on the S side is no longer recognisable.

At TQ 5739 0218 crossing a footpath is a vestigial scarp, 0.3m maximum height, which is visible for a distance of about 15.0m before it is lost in impenetrable gorse. It appears to be concentric to the two ramparts of the camp at a distance of c 30.0m, and could be a third line, though no ditch is evident. Alternatively it could be a lynchet (See TQ 50 SE 16).

Published survey (25") revised. (4)

Combe Hill was first identified by Mrs Alexander Keiller in the late 1920s as being a possible Neolithic enclosure. As a result the earthworks were surveyed c1928 by Curwen and included in his paper on Neolithic Camps (5,6).

Subsequent to Musson, further excavations were undertaken at Combe Hill by V Seton Williams. The results are unpublished (7).

Reference to unpublished Neolithic pottery from Combe Hill in Lewes Museum (8).

A chalk object described as possibly representing "a stylized or simple rough out for a phallic symbol" and bearing a number of incised lines was found "while walking on the Combe Hill enclosure" in May 1983 (9).

Soil samples from Musson's excavation were examined as part of research into the environmental background of the South Downs during the Neolithic. The number of snail shells retrieved from the Combe Hill samples was small but the results do not contradict the general conclusion that the Downs were wooded at the time that enclosures such as Combe Hill were being constructed (10).

(TQ 5750 0222) In March 1995, RCHME carried out an analytical earthwork survey of the causewayed enclosure on Combe Hill as part of the Project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Period (Event record 923509). The Bronze Age barrows in the immediate vicinity of the enclosure were also surveyed (TQ 50 SE 11, 13, 129). Roman material found in the upper layers of the causewayed enclosure's ditch and elsewhere in the vicinity was recorded as TQ 50 SE 130.

Seton Williams' 1962 excavations (see Source 7) along the eastern side of the enclosure and at various points in the interior were published in 1994 by Drewett (12). The earthwork profiles were similar to those revealed by Musson, but the finds differed: there was very little 'domestic' material, but a number of whole and broken axes. Some of the finds are now missing. Note that the 'phallic object' described by source 9 was found at the approximate location of one of Seton Williams' trenches. Drewett suggests that it may well have been carved during the excavation.

The monument is generally as described by previous sources. The causewayed enclosure consists of a penannular inner causewayed bank and ditch, and apparently discontinuous sections of an outer earthwork. Traces of the third earthwork mentioned by Source 4 were also recorded.

The inner earthwork encloses a regular slightly oval area of c.0.5ha measuring 90m W-E by 70m N-S. The inner earthwork's internal bank is 4.0m-7.0m wide and up to 0.6m high, with a ditch (no berm) 3.0m-5.0m wide and up to 0.7m deep. As Curwen recorded (Sources 2, 5, 6) 16 possible causeways across the ditch can be identified, although only 5 appear to be completely undug, the others being slight undulations in the base of the ditch. There are numerous other minor irregularities, some relating to the earlier excavations. All but 3 of the causeways across the ditch coincide with complete or partial interruptions in the bank, mostly ranging from 2.0m-5.0m wide. There are larger breaks on the east (an apparent complete break in both bank and ditch 10m wide) on the south (11m wide, but with possible indications of the levelling of the earthwork), and on the west (4m wide, possibly resulting partly from erosion by the track. On the north there is no trace of any earthwork for 45m, but the natural steep scarp completes the enclosure. There are intermittent traces, notably on the eastern and south-western sides, of a counterscarp bank no more than 0.1m high.

The outer earthwork consists of a length of causewayed bank and ditch 65m long on the west and an isolated segment 12m long on the east, linked on the south by a very degraded scarp (contrary to previous sources). The outer enclosure is not perfectly concentric with the inner, ranging from 12m distance on the south to 24m on the west. The two well-preserved sections have similar dimensions to the inner earthwork. The western section of ditch is interrupted by three causeways, two of which correspond to partial breaks and the other to a complete break in the bank, the last possibly contributed to by erosion along the track. Curwen's percussion technique detected an isolated ditch segment due south of the enclosure which could not be confirmed by RCHME.

There are two minor earthworks which lie between the inner and outer enclosures which may be of Neolithic date.

The broad low bank 30m west of the enclosure noted by Source 4 is 10.0m wide and up to 0.2m high; its alignment is fairly straight and coincides with a strip of gorse scrub, suggesting that may result from later agriculture. At its northern end the bank is overlain by a low mound; however the relationship with the bowl barrow (TQ 50 SE 11) is unclear. Some 30m east of the enclosure, RCHME identified vestigial traces of a comparable earthwork; the most appreciable element is a bank up to 7.5m wide and 0.1m high, which appears to underlie the disc barrow (TQ 50 SE 127) and extend for some 40m north of it to the edge of the natural scarp.

Black and white photography of the enclosure was carried out (negative numbers AA96/ 2982 - 2985).

For further details, see RCHME Level 3 client report, together with plan at 1:1000 scale and photographs, held in archive. (11-12)

Recent research into the dating of causewayed enclosures suggests that the enclosure was probably built at some point from the mid 37th century BC onwards. The plan of Combe Hill suggests a multi-staged history, and the results of excavation so far indicate that it saw a low level of deposition and perhaps of frequentation. (13)

Scheduled. (14) [See also source 15 below]

At time of recording in 2011, Access to information on the designation (scheduling) is provided via the National Heritage List for England. (15)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1961.

( 2) by E Cecil Curwen 1954 The archaeology of Sussex

Page(s)87-89

( 3) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Musson, R. An excavation at Combe Hill camp near Eastbourne, August 1949. 89, 1950 Page(s)105-116

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 NKB 01-MAY-73

(5) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Curwen, EC. Neolithic Camp, Combe Hill, Jevington. 70, 1929 Page(s)209-11

(6) Antiquity Publications Limited Antiquity

Curwen, EC. Neolithic Camps. 4, 1930 Page(s)22-54

(7) edited by D D A Simpson 1971 Economy and settlement in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Europe; papers delivered at a conference held in the University of Leicester, December 1969

Smith, IF. Causewayed Camps. Page(s)89-111

(8) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Drewett, P. A Neolithic Pot from Selmeston, East Sussex. 113, 1975 Page(s)193-4

(9) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Thompson, A. Carved chalk object found at Combe Hill, Jevington, East Sussex. 122, 1984 Page(s)216-7

(10) edited by Martin Bell and Susan Limbrey 1982 Archaeological aspects of woodland ecology

BAR international series Thomas, KD. Neolithic Enclosures and Woodland Habitats on the South Downs in Sussex, England. 146 Page(s)147-170

(11) Field Investigators Comments

RCHME: INDUSTRY AND ENCLOSURE IN THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD: Combe Hill Survey

(12) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Drewett, P. Dr V Seton Williams' excavations at Combe Hill, 1962, and the role of Neolithic causewayed enclosures in Sussex. 132, 1994 Page(s)7-24

(13) Alasdair Whittle, Alex Bayliss and Frances Healy 2011 Gathering Time: Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland

Chapter 5.3 Combe Hill 1 Page(s)231-232

(14) Scheduled Monument Notification

First date of Scheduling 09-OCT-1981, amended 04-JUN-1991

(15) World Wide Web page

English Heritage 2011. 'English Heritage: National Heritage List for England' http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1012497 [Accessed 13-JUL-2011]

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