A ‘Head and Hooves’ Burial beneath a Round Barrow, with other Neolithic and Bronze Age Sites, on Hemp Knoll, near Avebury, Wiltshire.

Abstract

This barrow was excavated by the author for the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the then Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (now the Department of the Environment) in August and September 1965. The barrow was scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Acts by the Department of the Environment as Wiltshire 563, and all finds were accordingly thus marked at the time of excavation. In 1958 the barrow was observed by the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate as being 4½ ft high and the mound was spread by agricultural activity to a diameter of 75 ft. In 1965 this bowl barrow stood barely 18 in. high, having suffered much from the effects of ploughing. The barrow had been disturbed mainly in the centre of the mound by early, possibly nineteenth century, excavations. At least one slit trench had been dug into the side of the mound during the 1939–45 war and much other disturbance had been caused by rabbits.

Residual finds from this site caused a particular problem. Where they seem to be dateable they have been inserted in their appropriate section, otherwise where there is a possible alternative date they have been cross referenced. All ranging rods and scales shown in the photographs of the site are marked in feet and inches, except where otherwise obvious.