Membury Causewayed Enclosure |
Hob Uid: 1180862 | |
Location : Devon East Devon Membury
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Grid Ref : ST2730003400 |
Summary : The site of an Early Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Membury. The discovery of a hilltop concentration of flints and prehistoric pottery in the 1980s prompted trial excavation in 1986. A single small trench located a feature of Early Neolithic date which was tentatively interpreted as part of a causewayed enclosure, although the trench was too small to allow proper assessment of the feature. Neolithic finds include sherds of bowl pottery and a leaf-shaped arrowhead. A further episode of excavation by Martin Tingle in 1994 aimed at relocating the 1986 trench and extending the examination of the Neolithic feature. However, it proved impossible to find the location of the 1986 trench. Two small trenches identified some truncated pits containing Late Bronze Age and Roman pottery, while a linear feature containing Roman pottery and some fragmentary pieces of slate (one possibly featuring a nail hole) was also found. In 2000 an area was stripped to reveal a 25 metre-long stretch of ditch running along below the highest part of the hill. The ditch had probably originally been dug in short segments before being made into a more continuous feature. It was truncated by ploughing and survived to only 0.4-0.5 metres deep. The ditch fill included flint nodules, especially on its inner side, suggesting the revetment of an inner bank. There was struck flint and chert, and two scrapers and a leaf arrowhead. Three indeterminate sherds were recovered, and no animal bone was present. The pits contained charred wheat and barley grains as well as charred hazelnut shells. The artefacts from the pits place them in the earlier fourth millennium. |
More information : Discovery of a hilltop concentration of flints and prehistoric pottery in the 1980s prompted trial excavation in 1986. A single small trench located an feature of Early Neolithic date which was tentatively interpreted as part of a causewayed enclosure, although the trench was too small to allow proper assessment of the feature. Neolithic finds include sherds of bowl pottery and a leaf-shaped arrowhead. A further episode of excavation by Martin Tingle in 1994 aimed at relocating the 1986 trench and extending the examination of the Neolithic feature. However, it proved impossible to find the location of the 1986 trench "because of the inaccuracy of the plans from that excavation". Two small trenches identified some truncated pits containing Late Bronze Age and Roman pottery, while a linear feature containing Roman pottery and some fragmentary pieces of slate (one possibly featuring a nail hole) was also found. It is intended to continue the search for the Neolithic feature. (1)
In 2000 an area was stripped to reveal a 25 metre-long stretch of ditch running along below the highest part of the hill. The ditch had probably originally been dug in short segments before being made into a more continuous feature. It was truncated by ploughing and survived to only 0.4-0.5 metres deep. The ditch fill included flint nodules, especially on its inner side, suggesting the revetment of an inner bank. There was struck flint and chert, and two scrapers and a leaf arrowhead. Three indeterminate sherds were recovered, and no animal bone was present. The pits contained charred wheat and barley grains as well as charred hazelnut shells. The artefacts from the pits place them in the earlier fourth millennium. (2)
The site was included in research into the dating of Early Neolithic enclosures, unfortunately material from the excavations was not available for dating at the time of the project. The publication contains a summary of the findings to date. (3)
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