| Summary : A Bronze Age bell barrow, part of a barrow group at Field Farm, Burghfield. The barrow survives as a cropmark and was excavated in 1985 in advance of gravel extraction. The earliest features date to the Neolithic period, pre-dating construction of the barrow and include a hearth and stake holes encircling a Mortlake Ware bowl. These were preserved by the buried soil at the centre of the barrow mound. The barrow dates to the early Bronze Age, it has a diameter of 47.50 metres and the barrow ditch has a gap, 3 metres wide, to the southeast. A central pit was recorded but there was no evidence for associated human bone, possibly due to acid soil conditions. During the Middle Bronze Age five secondary urned cremation burials were placed within the barrow mound. The barrow must have remained as a visible earthwork until the Saxon period as it appears to have been used to mark the position of an inhumation cemetery. The cemetery comprised fifty inhumations. Traces of coffins were recorded in four of the burials and grave goods were found in thirty three. The grave goods included shields, spearheads, knives, buckles and remains of a casket and indicated a late 6th-7th century date range. |
More information : B. 6770 SU 67 SE Area centred SU 676705 BURGHFIELD Single circle and incomplete circle with tangential linear feature. ST JOSEPH 60 ABX 39; 61 ADN 25, 27; 70 BCH 80. NMR 70 6770/1/85,88. (1)
45 SU 676704: A ring ditch visible on aerial photographs (see 'B' source 1), was excavated by the Trust for Wessex Archaeology in advance of destruction. The mound, probably a bell barrow, covered a pit probably originally containing a burial with the smashed remains of a Neolithic pot c2,000BC. A secondary cremation burial had been inserted at the edge of the mound and contained a Middle Bronze Age urn dated to c.1400BC. The barrow must have remained as a visible earthwork until at least the late 7th century AD, as the monument appears to have been used to mark the position of an inhumation cemetery at which fifty graves have been recorded. (2)
The round barrow is one of ten barrows visible as cropmarks and has been mapped from aerial photographs. The barrow has been refered to by authority 1 as 'B' and has the following dimensions and location: B a barrow with a diameter of 40 metres centred at SU 6756 7024.
(Morph No.s TG.322.1-4)
This description is based on data from MORPH2 database. (3)
The earliest features recorded during the 1985 excavations date to the Neolithic period and include a hearth and stake holes encircling a Mortlake Ware bowl. These features predate construction of the barrow and were preserved by the buried soil at the centre of the barrow mound. The hearth produced an archaeomagnetic date of 3900-3000 Cal BC (AJC-63) which is earlier than perhaps expected for Mortlake Ware. However, it is possible that these two features were not associated. The barrow ditch had an external diameter of 47.50 metres with an 3 metre wide break in the ditch on the southeast side. It survived to a depth of 1.10 metres and maximum width of 3 metres. Construction of the barrow and associated central pit has been dated by radiocarbon to 3650+/-80 BP (HAR-9139). No evidence for associated human bone was recorded this may be due to the acid soil conditions. During the Middle Bronze Age five secondary urned cremation burials were placed within the barrow mound. The Saxon cemetery comprised 50 inhumations, 30 of which were located within the ring ditch, the others located outside to the south. The graves had two main orientations, north-south and east-west. Bone preservation was poor with only one skeleton surviving in a near complete state. Traces of coffins were recorded in four of the burials. Grave goods were found in 33 of the graves indicating a late 6th-7th century date range. The grave goods included shields, spearheads, knives, buckles and remains of a casket. (4-5) |