| Summary : A linear feature visible as a cropmark was excavated in 1983-5. The site is close to the Barrow Hills cluster of monuments (see SU 59 NW 8), while other broadly contemporary sites include the Abingdon causewayed enclosure (SU 59 NW 30). It proved to be a Neolithic mortuary structure overlying and earlier pit. The pit contained two pieces of antler which produced a date of 4250-3700 BC (calibrated). The linear feature which cut through it was 4.7 metres by 2.3 metres, and traces of a wooden coffin or mortuary chamber were present. The remains of three individuals were found, one a crouched adult male, the other two being the more disarticulated remains of adult females. One of the latter had a pig mandible plced on its chest. The burials produced a raneg of dates spanning the later 4th and earlier 3rd millennia BC (calibrated). A fragment of reworked polished flint axe and further animal bones were the only other finds recorded. |