| Summary : The site of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure on Offham Hill. The eastern half was destroyed by quarrying in the 19th century, and much of the western half, which survived as an earthwork, was excavated in 1976. The enclosure consisted of two incomplete and concentric circuits of discontinuous bank and ditch. The original area may have been in the region of 1 ha. Finds included quantities of pottery, substantial numbers of flint flakes and tools, and animal and human remains. Greater quantities came from the outer ditch than the inner ditch. A flexed inhumation in a shallow pit may be of Beaker date. The mollusc evidence (i.e. remains of snails, which because of their adaptions are a useful indicator of past environments) indicated that the two ditches had been cut at different times. The site was surveyed by RCHME in 1997 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic project. Only a short stretch, in woodland on the north, now survives as an earthwork. This comprises a 90 metre length of both earthwork circuits. The overall plan suggests that the enclosure would have been almost perfectly circular, rather than slightly angular as Drewett's own plan depicted it. His conclusion that the enclosure might have been D-shaped or open on the west is therefore questionable.The results of recent research into the dating of Neolithic enclosures indicate that Offham saw a low level of use. Radiocarbon dating cannot resolve the sequence of the two circuits but suggests that the enclosure is likely to have been used in the middle centuries of the fourth millennium cal BC (roughly around 3600-3300 cal BC). The cropmark traces of the SW quarter and earthworks of the NW quadrant have been mapped from aerial photographs and lidar images as part of the Changing Chalk Partnership: Downs From Above project.
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| More information : (TQ 3987 1180) Earthwork (NR). (1)
Scheduled under Camps and Settlements. Earthwork on Offam Hill, Hamsey. (No further information). (2)
Partly hidden by vegetation on A/Ps. (3)
A small oval earthwork surrounded by a double ditch and cut into by a quarry. D Thomson, c1962, found Neolithic type flint flakes here. Remains of a causewayed camp. (4)
The remains of a sub-circular earthwork, c108.0m overall diameter, situated on N-facing slope c120.0m NE of the hill summit. Quarrying has encroached upon the E side. It comprises two concentric ditches about 10.0m apart and not more than 0.5m deep, in places reduced to a vegetation mark only. On the SE side at the quarry edge, a section of the ditch can be seen 0.6m below the turf line and 2.6m wide. There is slight evidence of an inner bank, and elsewhere a low swelling, apparently containing a heavier content of chalk rubble, suggests a continuation of the bank. Interruptions of the vegetation mark in the ditch possibly indicate at least four causeways across the outer ditch and two across the inner.
The whole work has been reduced by ploughing and scrub clearance; the northern part is within a wood and here shows as an outward facing scarp 0.5m high. The work shows many features of a Neolithic causewayed camp but without excavation positive identification is uncertain.
The burials (TQ 31 SE 56) found in the edge of the quarry could have been interments in the ditch.
Published survey (25") resurveyed. (5)
Scheduling Information (1996) (6) [for the onlince version see also source 12 below]
A large sector of the western perimeter and the interior of the enclosure was excavated in 1976 by the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit under the direction of Dr Peter Drewett, in the face of the imminent destruction of the site by ploughing (see Event 626205). The earthworks were planned prior to excavation. The site was shown to be a two-circuit causewayed enclosure of earlier Neolithic date, though Drewett suggested that it may have been D-shaped, or open on the west side, owing to the steepness of the natural slope. On excavation, the ditches and banks proved to correspond closely to the earthwork: they ranged from 20m - 50m in length, with infrequent interruptions. Finds recovered from the ditch included quantities of pottery, flint flakes and tools (including scrapers, leaf-shaped arrow heads and a polished axe), animal and human bone. A flexed inhumation in a shallow pit may be of Beaker date; a similar suggestion has been made concerning the other skeletons found in the vicinity (TQ 31 SE 56).
The excavation of the interior revealed little, apart from two post-holes which may not be contemporary with the enclosure. The surface had been damaged by fox-holes of Second World War date. (7)
(TQ 3990 1177)
In October 1997, RCHME carried out an analytical earthwork survey of the causewayed enclosure, as part of a national project to record industry and enclosure in the neolithic period (8). The fox holes and the 19th century chalk quarry were allocated new NMR numbers (TQ 31 SE 102 and 103) to enhance the record.
In the woodland on the northern side of the enclosure, a 90m long stretch of both circuits survives reasonably well as an earthwork. The overall plan suggests that the enclosure would have been almost perfectly circular, rather than slightly angular as Drewett's plan depicts it (7). His conclusion that it would have been D-shaped or open on the west is therefore questionable. The outer face of the bank of the more massive outer circuit survives as a scarp up to 0.7m high. Traces of causeways are only evident in the outer ditch, but two of the apparent ditch segments recorded by Drewett are almost certainly slit-trenches.
The woodland has been coppiced, but is of no great antiquity.
For further information, see Level 3 archive report and earthwork plan at 1:1000 scale, held in the Archive. (8)
Additional references. (9-10)
The results of recent research into the dating of Neolithic enclosures indicate that Offham saw a low level of use. Radiocarbon dating cannot resolve the sequence of the two circuits but suggests that the enclosure is likely to have been used in the middle centuries of the fourth millennium cal BC. (11)
At time of recording in 2011, the online information for the designation (scheduling) noted in source 6 is available via the National Heritage List for England. (12)
The cropmark traces of the SW quarter and earthworks of the NW quarter of the surviving circuit of the Neolithic enclosure described above is located at TQ 3988 1177 on the edge of a large chalk quarry. The site appears as the remains of two concentric circuits of segmented ditch. Over a third of the original estimated enclosure has been quarried away. Of the remaining enclosure, the south-western quarter has been ploughed and can only be seen as a cropmark. The NW quater lies within woodland and survives as earthworks. The Outer circuit of segmented ditches has a diameter of 110m and the inner circuit 78m. A large pit (7m x 10.5m) is located to the north, immediately outside the enclosure at TQ3987 1182. These remains have been mapped from aerial photographs and lidar images as part of the Changing Chalk Partnership: Downs From Above project. (13-14)
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