| Summary : The site of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Briar Hill. The site lies on the gentle north facing slope of the Nene Valley, the river itself lying 700 metres to the north. It was discovered during aerial survey in 1972 and excavated in 1974 to 1978 in advance of housing development. The cropmarks were interpreted and transcribed by RCHME in 1995 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. The enclosure itself comprises two main concentric ditch circuits of interrupted ditch lying between 15 and 28 metres apart. The outer enclosure measures circa 200 metres by 190 metres, covering an area of about 3 hectares. Within the enclosure, to the east and sharing part of the inner ditch circuit is a smaller, sub-circular interrupted ditched enclosure roughly 90 metres in diameter and enclosing circa 0.6 hectares. Excavation showed this inner enclosure to be integral with the main inner circuit, the two forming a continuous spiral. Excavation also confirmed the cropmark indications that the interior contained few contemporary structures other than some scattered pits. Excavations showed that the ditches had experienced several episodes of recutting. Finds were concentrated particularly in the segments of the innermost enclosure ditch, and included potsherds, flints, fragments of stone axes, querns and polishing stones. Several pits contained later Neolithic material including sherds of Grooved Ware, Peterborough Ware and Beakers. A small group of Bronze Age cremations was found on the south west side of the outer enclosure, just inside the edge of the ditch. Four were in bucket-shaped urns and one was accompanied by a barbed and tanged arrowhead. Recent research into the dating of the causewayed enclosure suggests that construction probably took place in 3760-3415 cal BC. The estimate for the early Neolithic disuse of the ditches is probably 3340-2955 cal BC. According to this interpretation the enclosure was in use probably for 150-505 years. |
More information : Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure (SP 73625923); Figs 1,3), lies on Briar Hill 800 m. N. of Hunsbury hill fort, on Northampton Sands, at 75 m. to 80 m. above OD. The site was discovered during aerial survey in 1972 and subsequently field-walking over the general area in 1973 led to the discovery of many worked flints, chiefly flakes but also some cores, scrapers and microliths. These were scattered over a broad zone (SP 73905900-73325932) but with two particular concentrations (SP 73415919 and 73865902). Other flints had been found nearby on earlier occasions (SP 737589) and some of the flints attributed to Hunsbury Hill [SP 75 NW 2] also seem to have come from here. (1)
Excavations on the enclosure were carried out by the NDC Archaeological Unit between 1974 and 1978, when approximately half the total area was investigated.
The neolithic enclosure, covering just over 3 hectares, was defined by two concentric interrupted ditch circuits 15 m.-20m. apart and contained an elliptical inner enclosure formed by an in-turning extension of the inner ditch on the E. side. The main ditches were made up of short, steep-sided, flat-bottomed segments 3 m.-4 m. wide across the top and 1 m.-2 m. deep, but the ditch on the W. side of the inner enclosure included an arc of smaller pits less than 1 m. in depth. An asymmetrical pattern of infill in many segments of the outer ditch has been interpreted tentatively as evidence of the weathering and collapse of a steeply revetted internal bank, although no trace of this was discovered on the surface.
The enclosure seems to have been in use, though not occupied continously, throughout much of the neolithic period. The ditches around both the outer and inner enclosures were found to have been redug several times, apparently at infrequent intervals, and half of the segments investigated contained evidence of between three and six successive cuts. A series of radio-carbon determinations for samples from the ditch fills suggests that the original construction of the site took place in the mid 4th millennium bc (3730 bc + 70 (HAR - 4072); 3590 bc + 140 (HAR - 4092); 3490 bc + 110 (HAR - 2287), and that the final recutting of the inner ditch circuit, at least, was not later than the mid 3rd millennium bc (2710 bc + 70 (HAR - 4057); 2660 bc + 90 (HAR - 4071); 2650 bc + 90 (HAR - 3208)).
Finds were concentrated particularly in segments of the ditch around the inner enclosure, especially on the W. side, and included sherds of neolithic bowls, worked flints, fragments of stone axes (Groups I VI, VII and XX), saucer querns, rubbing stones, and grinding or polishing stones.
Several features of neolithic date were found in the inner enclosure, and most if not all of these post-date the final reconstruction of the earthworks. Charcoal from one of a number of small pits has been dated 2420 bc + 80 (HAR - 4074), and from two pits 26 m. part which may have been footings for massive posts there are dates of 2340 bc + 80 (HAR - 2625) and 2300 bc + 70 (HAR - 4057). One of the most interesting features of all was the foundation slot of a small but substantial sub-rectangular wooden structure, and this contained sherds of grooved ware and charcoal dated 2060 bc + 90 (HAR 2607).
Other evidence of the use of the site during the later neolithic period including sherds of Mortlake and Fengate style impressed ware and Beaker pottery found in the final silt of the ditches, and several pits, producing radio-carbon determinations ranging from 1840 bc + 100 (HAR - 4073) to 1590 bc + 80 (HAR - 2389), which had been dug into these final infill layers.
A small group of Bronze Age cremation burials was discovered on the S.W. side of the outer enclosure, 9 m. inside the inner edge of the inner ditch. This comprised a cluster of shallow pits, at least 10 of which contained surviving cremation deposits. Four of these were in badly decayed, bucket-shaped urns, one being radio-carbon dated 1230 bc + 70 (HAR - 4065). Of the remainder, one, which gave a date of 1750 bc + 150 (HAR - 4058), was accompanied by a flint barbed-and-tanged arrowhead. (2-10)
SP73625923. This site was plotted by the Air Photography Unit of RCHME in June 1995. This was a 1:2500 scale, level 3 photogrammetric survey which was carried out as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project (Event UID 971609, Parent Event UID 923509). (11)
The 1974-78 excavations have been published in full. Note however that there has subsequently been much debate concerning the interpretation of the radiocarbon dates, the identification of the Neolithic pottery, and the suggested sequence for the 3 ditch circuits identified (12-14).
The Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Briar Hill became the subject of controversy when radiocarbon dating appeared to show that it had been constructed in the fifth millennium cal BC, and maintained for about a thousand years (Bamford 1985). If true, this interpretation made Briar Hill the earliest known causewayed enclosure in Europe, and Britain's earliest agricultural site (Kinnes and Thorpe 1986). Doubts were raised about the contextual reliability of the radiocarbon samples, given the artefactual evidence, which only indicated occupation from the later fourth millennium cal BC onwards (ibid). This report assesses each radiocarbon result, and the interpretations of these results. The results and interpretations are then reassessed, using new techniques of radiocarbon date calibration and chronology modelling. The report finds that only the final phase of maintenance of the enclosure can be confidently dated, to the later fourth millennium cal BC, and that the original interpretation depends entirely on the contextual reliability of two samples. It cannot be proved that these samples were residual, but are reasons to suspect that they were, in addition to the artefactual evidence. (15)
Briar Hill was included in recent research into the dating of Early Neolithic enclosures. The results suggested an estimated construction date probably of 3760-3415 cal BC. The estimate for the early Neolithic disuse of the ditches is probably 3340-2955 cal BC. According to this interpretation the enclosure was in use probably for 150-505 years.
The results place the construction of the enclosure within the fourth millennium cal BC, rather than in the later part of the fifth millennium as suggested by Bamford. It is most likely to have been built in the middle centuries of the millennium. The chronological sequence between the three ditches remains unresolved. Mercer's suggested later Neolithic date for the spiral ditch is now thought unlikely due to the concentration in it of early Neolithic artefacts. The models also agree in placing the final infilling of the enclosure ditches in the second half of the fourth millennium or the first half of the third millennium cal BC, probably in the last third of the fourth millennium. It is possible that there was continuity of use of the site into the third millennium cal BC, with the timber structures of phase VIII. The Briar Hill enclosure was apparently in use for several centuries.
Reliable evidence for the dating of the Briar Hill enclosure is limited, and reflected in imprecise chronological estimates provided by the models. The outer ditch and the spiral ditch are dated only by radiocarbon measurements which provide termini post quos for their contexts. (16)
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