Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T13:47:10.312Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Disc-Barrows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

L. V. Grinsell
L. V. Grinsell
Affiliation:
Formerly Department of Archaeology, City Museum, Bristol. At present, 32 Queen's Court, Clifton, Bristol 8
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

An attempt is made to classify and list in detail the known disc-barrows in and around Wessex—about 170 in all, 155 being of normal type, 13 of ‘Dorset’ type, and two of exceptional character. Of these, 93 are in Wiltshire, 57 being within ten km of Stonehenge, and 36 within five km of that monument, which evidently acted as a magnet in attracting major barrow cemeteries to its vicinity.

The normal disc-barrow is of the ‘Wessex culture’ of the Early Bronze Age. The rite is nearly always cremation, but a very few possible instances of primary inhumation need further investigation. The grave-goods are usually necklaces of beads (amber, shale, faience, in four instances all together), in three instances with amber space-plates; bronze awls (pointed at one end and flat at the other which probably went into a handle); and small two-edged bronze knives. Occasionally the cremation is in an urn or with an ‘Aldbourne’ or other cup. The frequency of beads, and the absence of warrior equipment such as ‘Wessex’ bronze daggers, has until now led to the conclusion that they were the places of interment of females.

Since 1953 seven disc-barrows have been scientifically excavated but final reports are still awaited. The primary cremation from one of the mounds of the oval twin barrow Milton Lilbourne I was probably female. The primary cremation from the central mound of Collingbourne Kingston 18 could not be sexed; but two cremations from a large pit beneath the eccentric mound of the same barrow were identified as probably and possibly adult male. Cremations from the other sites could not be sexed. These meagre results suggest that the central or other primary mounds of disc-barrows were for females but the eccentric mounds may have been for either sex. The sexing of more cremations is urgently needed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 40 , December 1974 , pp. 79 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abercromby, J., 1912. Bronze Age Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland. Oxford.Google Scholar
Annable, F. K., 1959. ‘Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire, 1958’. Wilts. Archaeol. Nat. Hist. Mag., 57, 227–39.Google Scholar
Annable, F. K., 1962. ‘Excavation and Fieldwork in Wiltshire, 1961’. Wilts. Archaeol. Nat. Hist. Mag., 58, 240–8.Google Scholar
Annable, F. K. and Simpson, D. D. A., 1964. Guide Catalogue of the Neolithic and Bronze Age Collections in Devises Museum. Devizes.Google Scholar
Ashbee, P., 1956. ‘Some Wessex Barrow forms in South-West England’. Proc. West Cornwall Field Club, 1 (iv), 132.Google Scholar
Ashbee, P., 1960. The Bronze Age Round Barrow in Britain. London.Google Scholar
Atkinson, R. J. C., 1951. ‘The Henge Monuments of Great Britain’, in Excavations at Dorchester, Oxon. I, edited by Atkinson, R. J. C. and others, 81–107.Google Scholar
Aubrey, J., c. 1693. ‘Monumenta Britannica’. Bodleian Library. Mss. Top. Gen. C. 25.Google Scholar
Bailey, C. J., 1972. ‘Interim report on … a disc-barrow on Black Down, Kingston Russell’. Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist. Archaeol. Soc., 93, 133.Google Scholar
Bowen, H. C., 1969. ‘The Anglo-Saxon finds from Hardown Hill: Addendum’. Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist. Archaeol. Soc., 90, 240.Google Scholar
Burl, H. A. W., 1970. ‘Henges: internal features and regional groups’. Arch. J. 126 (for 1969), 1–28.Google Scholar
Case, H. J., 1957. ‘The Lambourn Seven Barrows’. Berkshire Archaeol. J., 55, 15–31.Google Scholar
Case, H. J., 1964. ‘Notes on … Ring Ditches in the Oxford Region’. Oxoniensia, 28 (for 1963), 19–52.Google Scholar
Catherall, P. D., 1972. ‘Henges in Perspective’. Archaeol. J., 128 (for 1971), 147–53.Google Scholar
Clarke, R. R., 1960. East Anglia. London.Google Scholar
Clarke, W. G., 1913. ‘Norfolk Barrows’. The Antiquary, 49, 416–23.Google Scholar
Claxton, E. W., 1953. [Note on field system adjoining Grafton disc-barrows]. Trans. Newbury Dist. F.C., 10(i), preface.Google Scholar
Coles, J. and Taylor, J. J., 1971. ‘The Wessex Culture: a Minimal View’. Antiquity, 45, 6–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corcoran, J. X. W. P., 1963. ‘Excavation of the Bell-barrow in Deerleap Wood, Wotton’. Surrey Archaeol. Colls., 60, 1–18.Google Scholar
Crawford, O. G. S. and Keiller, A., 1928. Wessex from the Air. Oxford.Google Scholar
Cunnington, R. H., 1956. ‘The Cunnington Mss. and Ancient Wiltshire: an account of the material differences, not already published’. Typescript in Library of Wiltshire Archaeological Society, Devizes.Google Scholar
De Laet, S., 1962. The Low Countries. London.Google Scholar
Douglas, J., 1793. Nenia Britannica. London.Google Scholar
Feachem, R. W., 1973. ‘Berms, banks, ditches and platforms associated with barrows in Scotland’. Scottish Archaeol. Forum, 4, Glasgow 1972, 105–8.Google Scholar
Fleming, A., 1971. ‘Territorial Patterns in Bronze Age Wessex’. PPS, 37, 138–66.Google Scholar
Fleming, A., 1973. ‘Models for the Development of the Wessex Culture’, in Renfrew, C. (ed) The Explanation of Culture Change: Models in Prehistory, 571–85. London.Google Scholar
Giffen, A. E. van., 1938. ‘Continental Bell- or Disc-barrows in Holland, with special reference to Tumulus I at Rielsch Hoefke’. PPS, 4, 258–71.Google Scholar
Glasbergen, W., 1954. Barrow Excavations in the Eight Beatitudes: Groningen.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1934a. ‘An Analysis and List of Surrey Barrows’. Surrey Archaeol. Collect., 42, 26–60.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1934b. ‘Bell-barrows’. PPSEA, 7, 203–30.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1936. ‘Berkshire Barrows, Part II’. Berkshire Arch. J., 40, 20–58.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1939a. ‘Berkshire Barrows, Part IV’. Berkshire Arch.J., 43, 9–21.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1939b. ‘Hampshire Barrows, Part II’. Proc. Hampshire Fid. Club Archaeol. Soc., 14, 195–229.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1941. ‘The Bronze Age Round Barrows of Wessex’. PPS, 7, 73–113.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1953. The Ancient Burial-Mounds of England. Second edition. London.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1957. ‘Archaeological Gazetteer’, in Victoria County History of Wiltshire. I (i).Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1958. The Archaeology of Wessex. London.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1959. Dorset Barrows. Dorchester.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1972. ’Somerset Barrows, Part II’. Supplement to Somerset Archaeol. Nat. Hist., 115.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V., 1974. Barrow, Pyramid and Tomb. London.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V. and Sherwin, G. A., 1941. ‘Isle of Wight Barrows’. Proc. Isle Wight Nat. Hist. Archaeol. Soc., 3, 179–322.Google Scholar
Hawley, W., 1910. ‘Notes on Barrows in South Wiltshire’. Wiltshire Arch. Nat. Hist. Mag., 36, 615–28.Google Scholar
SirHoare, R. C., 1812. Ancient Wiltshire. I., South. London.Google Scholar
SirHoare, R. C., 1821. Ancient Wiltshire. II., North. London.Google Scholar
Marien, M. E., 1947. ‘“Bell-barrow” et “Disc Barrow” en Belgique’. Archeologie. 1947 (2), 358–9.Google Scholar
Marien, M. E., 1948. ‘A propos des Disc-barrows en Belgique’. Archeologie. 1948. 131.Google Scholar
McKerrell, H., 1972. ‘On the Origins of British Faience Beads and some aspects of the Wessex-Mycenae relationship’. PPS, 38, 286–301.Google Scholar
Ministry of Public Building & Works, 1962. Excavat. Ann. Rep. for 1961. London.Google Scholar
Ministry of Public Building & Works, 1965. Excavat. Ann. Rep. for 1964. London.Google Scholar
O'Neil, H. E., and Grinsell, L. V., 1961. ‘Gloucestershire Barrows’. Trans. Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeol. Soc., 79, 1–148.Google Scholar
Piggott, S., 1938. ‘The Early Bronze Age in Wessex’. PPS, 4, 52–106.Google Scholar
Piggott, S., 1973. ‘The Wessex Culture of the Early Bronze Age’, in Victoria County History of Wiltshire. I (ii), 352–75.Google Scholar
Sandars, N., 1959. ‘Amber spacer-beads again’. Antiquity, 33, 292–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, I. F., 1961. ‘An Essay towards the Reformation of the British Bronze Age’. Helinium, I, 97–118.Google Scholar
Stukeley, W., 1740. Stonehenge. London.Google Scholar
Stukeley, W., 1743. Abury. London.Google Scholar
Thomas, N., 1957. ‘Excavations and Fieldwork in Wiltshire, 1956’. Wilts Archaeol. Nat. Hist. Mag., 56, 231–52.Google Scholar
Thomas, N. and C., , 1956. ‘Excavations at Snail Down, Everleigh, 1953, 1955: interim report’. Wilts Archaeol. Nat. Hist. Mag., 56, 127–48.Google Scholar
Thurnam, J., 1871. ‘Ancient British Barrows. II, Round Barrows’. Arch., 43, 285–544.Google Scholar
Warne, C., 1866. The Celtic Tumuli of Dorset. London.Google Scholar
Woodbridge, K., 1970. Landscape and Antiquity: Aspects of English Culture at Stourhead 1718 to 1838. Oxford.Google Scholar
Worth, R. H., 1953. Dartmoor. Plymouth.Google Scholar