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The Excavation of Two Round Barrows at Poole, Dorset

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

Humphrey Case
Humphrey Case
Affiliation:
Dept. of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
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Extract

The excavation of these barrows was undertaken in the autumn of 1949 for the Ministry of Works in advance of building. They stood immediately adjacent to each other on Plateau Gravel overlying the Bagshot Beds towards the western extremity of the Hampshire Basin, and only a hundred yards north of the crest of the Bourne Bottom which leads down to Bournemouth and Poole Bay about three miles distant (fig. 1). The surrounding heath is rich in round barrows, and the district has yielded plentiful evidence of prehistoric man.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , December 1953 , pp. 148 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1952

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References

page 148 note 1 Mr Paul Ashbee assisted during the early stages and Kevin Brownrigg towards the end. Workmen and equipment were provided by the Borough Engineer, County Borough of Poole, who gave every possible assistance. Mr G. C. Dunning made several visits, and visits were also made by Mr J. B. Calkin, Prof. V. G. Childe, Mr N. C. Cook, Dr S. Puglisi (Rome), Mr H. P. Smith, Mr G. F. Willmot, and Commander N. C. Wrey, R.N.

page 148 note 2 National Grid Reference: 41/057944. Six inch sheet: Dorset XLIV N.W.

page 148 note 3 All North points on the plans are true. The plan of the ditches of both barrows was apparent before excavation through their covering of bleached grass contrasting with the Calluna and gorse vegetation elsewhere. Cf. Tumulus 21 of the Toterfout Halve-Mijl group, N. Brabant, Holland: see Glasbergen, Palaeohistoria, II (forthcoming).

page 148 note 4 Grinsell, Dorset Barrows (MS), and Hampshire Barrows, Proc. Hants F.C., XIV, 9–40, 195–229, 346–65Google Scholar.

page 148 note 5 Calkin, , Proc. Dorset N. Hist, and Arch. Soc., LXXIII, 32–70Google Scholar.

page 148 note 6 See Appendix II.

page 148 note 7 A miniature layer 4.

page 149 note 1 The weathered Plateau Gravel where sealed by layers 10 and 10a under Barrow 1, and by layer 10 under Barrow 2, was less stiff and a cleaner yellow than elsewhere.

page 149 note 2 A leached layer was in the Mortuary House filling of Beaulieu Barrow II, Hants: MrsPiggott, , PPS, IX, 6–9Google Scholar.

page 149 note 3 Too small for identification. Examined by Mr D. F. Roberts, Physical Anthropology Laboratory, Dept. of Human Anatomy, Oxford University.

page 152 note 1 The edges were destroyed where crossed by the rhododendron bed. Those shown within its limits on fig. 2 are hypothetical. The bottom however (see fig. 3) was intact.

page 152 note 2 None were larger than seemed appropriate for the present-day vegetation; but possibly some of the solution holes were caused by tree roots.

page 153 note 1 The banding of layer 7 and of the upper part of layer 10 were identical. Not so shown on fig. 3 for clearness.

page 153 note 2 Alignments possibly also of this type are noticeable in the s.w. quadrant of the plan of Tumulus 7 of the Toterfout Halve-Mijl group, N. Brabant, Holland. It had a very regular layout of 12 posts. Glasbergen, ibid.

page 153 note 3 Apprendix I.

page 153 note 4 Childe's Periods II and III:—Arminghall, Norfolk: Clark, , PPS, II, 1–23Google Scholar. Barrow 5, Chippenham, Cambs: Leaf, , Proc. Cambs. Ant. Soc., XXXIX, 33–68Google Scholar. Overton Hill Sanctuary, Wilts: MrsCunnington, , WAM, XLV, 300–35Google Scholar. South Hill, Talbenny, Pembroke: Fox, , Arch. J., XCIX, 1–10, 22–7Google Scholar and Appendix. Woodhenge, Wilts: MrsCunnington, , Woodhenge (1929)Google Scholar.

Period IV:—Beedon, Berks: Long, Arch. J., VII, 66; a bell-barrow with circle of 7 posts. Calais Wold 23, Yorks: Mortimer, , Forty years researches (1905), 153–56Google Scholar; a bell-barrow (Clark, PPS, 11, 32 and fig. 18). Early Bronze Age Barrow, Chippenham, Cambs: Leaf, , Proc. Cambs. Ant. Soc., XXXVI, 134–42Google Scholar. Barrow C, Snailwell, Cambs: Lethbridge, ibid, XLIII, 35–6.

Period V:—Bleasdale, Cheshire: Varley, , Ant. J., XVIII, 154–71Google Scholar. Caebetin Hill, Montgomery: Jerman, , Montgomery, Hist, and Arch. Collns. (1932), 176–81Google Scholar. Barrow 2, Crichel Down, Dorset: Piggott, , Arch., XC, 64–6Google Scholar. Barrows 1 and 2, Letterston, Pembroke: Savory, , Arch. Camb., C, 67–87.Google Scholar Sheeplays 279′ and 293′, Glamorgan: Fox, , Ant. J., XXI, 98–118 and AppendixGoogle Scholar.

Period VI:—Six Wells 267′, Glamorgan: Fox, ibid., 118–22 and Appendix. Six Wells 271′, Glamorgan: Fox, , Ant., XV, 142–61Google Scholar.

page 153 note 6 Palaeohistoria (forthcoming).

page 154 note 1 Not so shown on fig. 5 for clearness.

page 157 note 1 The additional material being represented by the darker and more leached peripheral sods. Cf. Tumulus 8, the primary barrow, Period I, Toterfout Halve-Mijl group, N., Brabant, Holland; Glasbergen, , Palaeohistoria, II (forthcoming)Google Scholar.

page 157 note 2 For instance, 1 and 15, 2 and 7 and 12 and 14 aligned fairly closely on the centre of the circle mentioned (barrow centre point, fig. 4), and 30–37 made a rough rectangle aligned towards the causeway, the diagonal 33 and 37 passing through the barrow centre point, and the diagonal 30 and 34 through the deepest part of pit A. Some of the remainder could be interpreted as aligning through the same part of pit A or where the disturbance went deepest.

page 157 note 3 Dr Cornwall pointed out that the intenser leaching might have been due to the greater mass of layer 7; but that on the other hand there were some reasons for believing that leaching from this source was never very great.