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GIB HILL

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An Early Bronze Age round cairn on top of a Neolithic oval barrow. Excavations in 1848 revealed a cist containing a cremation and food vessel. A Neolithic flint arrowhead and axe fragment, and cremated human bones, were found associated with the oval barrow, a cist containing a cremation and a food vessel were found in association with the round barrow. An iron fibula was also found in the Neolithic barrow indicating Roman or Anglian reuse.

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[SK 15826332] Gib Hill (Tumulus) [L.B.] (1)

Gib Hill was evacuated in 1848 by Bateman. It appears to have consisted of four small mounds merged into one. Near the top of the mass a limestone cist was found containing a cremation and food vessel.

The cist was removed but replaced in 1938.

Gib Hill should be dated c. 1600-1400 B.C. (2)

Other finds included a flint arrowhead, an axe fragment, and a fibula.(3) (2-3)

A circular, ditchless barrow, diam. 24.8 m. max. and a height of 3.0 m., with a 'tail' bank to the N.E. Apparently re-constructed by M.O.W. (4)

Field report of 19.8.52 correct. Published survey (1/2500)
revised. (5)

The possibiltiy exists that the site consists of a Neolithic oval
mound (120 x 70 ft in diameter),surmounted by an EBA round cairn 90ft across.The oval barrow is surrounded by a broad ditch or scraped area. (6-7)

There have been three excavations of the barrow, by W Bateman and S Mitchell in 1824, by T Bateman in 1848, and by the then owner, Mr Thornhill in 1812. During the 1824 excavation, a smaller mound of stiff clay was found beneath the oval barrow. 3-4 yards across and 1.5 yards high, it contained layers of charcoal and cremated human bone with a possible arrowhead fragment and part of a polished axehead. Within the oval mound were found flints and an iron brooch. The latter indicates a reuse of the barrow in the Roman or Anglian periods.

Thomas Bateman noted that the oval mound consisted of limestone and soil, and beneath it on the old land surface were four small clay mounds arranged in a square. Beneath the bowl barrow was a cist of early Bronze Age date. The oval barrow is therefore Neolithic. Scheduled. (8).

With Arbor Low, this site is considered to be an impressive complex of prehistoric monuments. While a thorough understanding of the site and its phases is yet to be determined, it is thought that the Neolithic barrow at Gib Hill was the first element, predating Arbow Low. The Early Bronze Age round barrow at Gib Hill is thought to have been constructed after the bank and ditch of Arbor Low. These earthworks at Abor Low and Gib Hill would have taken a very long time to build and may represent around 1000 years of activity, lasting from 2500 to 1500 BC. See source for further details. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

O.S. 25".

( 2) General reference

"Guide to Prehistoric England" 1960. pp. 66-67.

( 3) General reference

"Ten Years Digging" 1861. pp. 17-20. (illus.) (T. Bateman).

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 FC 19-AUG-52

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F2 FC 28-APR-66

( 6a) General reference

Green HS 1980 The Flint Arrowheads of the British Isles BAR British Series 75 (ii) Oxford:BAR 433

( 6) General reference

Marsden BM 1977 The Burial Mounds of Derbyshire Priv pubn 71-2

( 7) Derbyshire Archaeological Society Derbyshire archaeological journal

J Radley 88, 1968 Page(s)100-3

(8) Scheduled Monument Notification

Amendment 15-Apr-1994

(9) English Heritage 2006 Heritage Unlocked: Guide to free sites in the Midlands

Page(s)8-9

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