| Summary : A round cairn comprising pitched limestone and sandstone slabs, excavated circa 1875 by Greenwell, who found the remains of several incomplete, disarticulated burials scattered throughout the mound. There was no evidence that the cairn had been disturbed, with the exception of a single burial of early medieval date inserted into the top of the mound. The multiple fragmentary and disarticulated inhumations have prompted suggestions that the cairn is of Neolithic origin, although there is no dating evidence, and the nature of the interments need not rule out a later date.Iron knife, shears, buckle and bridle bit found. |
More information : (NY 70560681) Tumulus or Cairn, a few yards NW of the old lime-kiln on Bents Hill. 34'-36' in diameter and about 4' high. Apparently that opened by Greenwell in 1873. At the centre, 1 ft below the apex, he found a secondary cremation "undoubtedly that of an Angle" from the accompanying iron knife, buckle, shears and bridle-bit, (now in Brit Mus). This was apparently the only disturbance since the cairn was first thrown up. No primary burial was found, but disjointed bones and skulls of a number of bodies were scattered throughout the cairn. (1)
A cairn, partly turf covered and in fair condition. Surveyed at 1:2500. (2)
Bent's Hill. NY 707 068. Listed by Kinnes as a Neolithic round cairn with primary burials of the disarticulated remains of 3 adults, 7 adolescents and 2 children. (3)
A round cairn investigated circa 1873 (1) or 1875 (3) by Greenwell, who described it as "a very enigmatical burial mound, inasmuch as no undisturbed body was found within it". At the time of excavation, the cairn was measured at 36 feet in diameter and 4 feet high, and comprised pitched limestone slabs with some of sandstone also present. According to Greenwell, "the limestone flags were placed in the most regular order, overlapping each other, commencing from some laid quite flat at the centre and upon the natural surface of the ground". The nature of the cairn's construction allowed Greenwell to state with some authority that, with the sole exception of a probable Early medieval burial inserted into the top of the mound, it had never been distbrbed. The burials discovered in the mound were as follows;
(i) 10.75 feet west southwest of centre, 1 foot below the surface of the mound, were disarticulated and fragmentary bones of an adult and an adult male;
(ii) 1 foot further southwest, and 9 inches lower, were similarly disarticulated and fragmentary remains of another adult and an adult male;
(iii) immediately west of (ii) was another similar deposit;
(iv) 4.5 feet southeast of the centre and 2.5 feet below the surface of the cairn were more fragmentary human remains;
(v) 6 feet west of the centre, and 2.5 feet below the surface of the cairn, were the fragmentary remains of an adult female, and a pre-molar of an ox;
(vi) just south of the centre, and 8 inches above the original ground surface, were skull fragments of an adult, a child and an infant, along with a few other bones, 2 of them burnt.
The cairn itself also contained several scattered bones of ox and some of "a kid or a lamb". Greenwell observed that there was no evidence that any of the burials represented an entire body, and that many of the smaller bones appeared to be missing. He suggested that each of these individuals had been buried elsewhere first before being interred in the cairn. Kinnes (1979) suggested a Neolithic date for the cairn and its contents, although the presence of multiple fragmentary and disarticulated burials need not rule out a later date. The probable Early Medieval burial comprised a "burnt body" with iron knife, shears, buckle and bridle bit, found 1 foot below the centre of the cairn. (1a, 3, 4) |