| Print | More

AMESBURY 42 (GODDARD)

ABOUT THIS MONUMENT

+ / -

EH Visitor Information
Related Monuments
Related Text
Investigation History

More Pictures
Modern Map
Old Map
Aerial Photograph

Monument Types
Sources
Thesaurus
Description

DESCRIPTION

+ / -

A Neolithic long barrow survives as very slight earthworks which have been ploughed nearly level. It is located 20m east of the eastern end of the Stonehenge Cursus (Monument Number 219546) and comprises a linear bank that extends roughly north / south for circa 70m and is flanked by a ditch to either side. The bank measures 20m wide and the ditches circa 11m wide. Excavation by Thurnam in 1866 found only secondary interments: the skeletons of two infants and a crouched adult inhumation, as well as animal bones including an ox skull. The barrow was listed as Amesbury 42 by Goddard (1913) and as a long barrow by Grinsell (1957). Sample excavation was undertaken in the 1980s as part of the Stonehenge Environs Project (Richards 1990). Finds included in situ knapping debris in the flanking ditch, plus potsherds representing Beakers, Collared Urns and Late Bronze Age vessels, as well as a quantity of Roman-British sherds. Animal bones also came from ditch fills associated with Bronze Age and Roman pottery. The surviving earthworks were surveyed by English Heritage as part of the Stonehenge WHS Landscape Project.

DETAIL

+ / -

MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

+ / -

(SU 13744318) Long Barrow (AT) (1)

Amesbury 42. A long barrow 265 ft long,
70 ft wide and 4 ft high; the side ditches have been ploughed out.

Orientation N-S

It was excavated by Thurnam who found animal bones and the sketetons
of two infants and one adult, probably secondaries. (2-3)

A long barrow orientated N-S, 81 metres long, 15 metres wide,
0.9m high with traces of a broad shallow ditch on the eastern side.
A trackway runs along the crest of the barrow and is slowly denuding
it.
Published (1:2500) survey revised. (4)

Originally recorded as Amesbury 42 by Goddard (5)

SU 62 (Kinnes) Amesbury 42, long barrow with type A ditches (Kinnes). The mortuary area was unlocated. The inhumation of a child was overlain by a deposit of animal remains. The mound was of chalk rubble and contained two secondary inhumations. (6)

Sample excavations were carried out on the western side of the barrow as part of the Stonehenge Environs Project (W58). Almost all traces of the mound and buried soil had been removed and two phases of construction were noted within the ditch. The phase 1 ditch was round-bottomed ditch 1.4m wide and 1.3m deep, separated by a causeway 0.4m wide. Flint knapping debris was recovered from the ditch base.

The phase 2 ditch was also flat-bottomed, 4.0m wide, 2.2m deep. Flint knapping debris, animal bone and Late Neolithic/Bronze Age pottery was recovered from the primary fills, and Roman pottery and animal bone were recovered from the upper fills.

The excavations provided a limited indication of the morphology of the two indivdual phases of the monument which may be comparable to other complex barrows, but its relationship to the eastern terminal of the Stonehenge Cursus must also be taken into consideration. A Magnetometer survey confirms the position of the north-south cursus terminal ditch 20m west of the long barrow with an apparent west flanking barrow ditch present between the terminal and the long barrow. (7)

The long barrow is visible as a very slight earthwork on aerial photographs, and has been mapped from aerial photographs by both RCHME's Salisbury Plain Training Area NMP and EH's Stonehenge WHS Mapping Project. (9-10)

The Neolithic long barrow referred to above (1-10) and known as Amesbury 42 survives as very slight earthworks, which were surveyed by English Heritage as part of the Stonehenge WHS Landscape Project. The long barrow comprises a linear bank that extends roughly north / south for circa 70m and is flanked by a ditch to either side. The bank measures 20m wide and the ditches circa 11m wide. It has been nearly flattened by ploughing and is overlain by a byway. (11)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6", 1961

( 2) edited by R B Pugh and Elizabeth Crittall 1957 A history of Wiltshire: volume 1, part 1

The Victoria history of the counties of England LV Grinsell: Archaeological Gazetteer Page(s)137

( 3) The Wiltshire archaeological and natural history magazine

ME Cunnington 38, 1913-14 Page(s)383-4

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ANK 19-JUN-69

(5) The Wiltshire archaeological and natural history magazine

EH Goddard: A list of prehistoric, Roman and pagan Saxon antiquities in the County of Wiltshire... 38, 1913-14 Page(s)168

(6) Ian Kinnes 1992 Non-megalithic long barrows and allied structures in the British Neolithic

British Museum occasional papers no.52 Page(s)11, 27

(7) by Julian Richards 1990 The Stonehenge Environs Project

English Heritage archaeological reportsNo.1 (1985) - no.24 (1994) 16 Page(s)96-109

(8) by Frances Blore, et al. 1995 Archaeological assessment of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site and its surrounding landscape

Record number 892 Page(s)301

(9) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

NMR SU 1343/4 (CCC 8561/30) 10-FEB-1922

(10) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

USAAF US/7PH/GP/LOC122 1060-61 24-DEC-1943

(11) Field Investigators Comments

Sharon Bishop/14-JUL-2011/English Heritage: Stonehenge WHS Landscape

MONUMENT TYPES

+ / -

COMMENTS

+ / -

Please help us keep our information accurate let us know if you see any errors on this page.

Further information about monuments may be obtained by contacting NMR Enquiry and Research Services , through the English Heritage website.

EH Archives
EH Prints
English Heritage
Heritage Explorer
Heritage Gateway
Images of England
National Heritage List for England
English Heritage Archive
ViewFinder