Information for record number MWA2399:
Neolithic or Bronze Age Round Barrow

Summary The site of a round barrow, probably of Bronze Age date. It is visible as an earthwork and is situated 750m south east of The Hollows.
What Is It?  
Type: Round Barrow, Barrow, Cremation
Period: Middle Bronze Age (1600 BC - 1201 BC)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Long Compton
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 29 30
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 First recorded by Stukeley. By 1920 it was 0.23m high, but in 1982 it had not been lowered very much. In 1982 two quadrants were excavated indicating that very little of the barrow structure survived, though the remains of the buried soil with small pits and scoops and a Mesolithic flint scatter (PRN 6041) were found. In 1984 the excavation was completed. An ill-defined ditch-like scoop defined the E edge of the barrow and there was a central cremation pit indicating an overall diameter of 12.5m. The material for the barrow was probably obtained from the E ditch and scraped together from the surrounding area. The cremation pit appeared to have been dug into a larger, shallower, earlier pit which contained traces of burnt stone. The later pit also contained cremated bone. Other cremation deposits lay to the S side of the barrow. One feature was a well-defined pit with a large quantity of bone from an adult burial. A second pit contained an upturned collared urn with the remains of an infant. Charcoal from this feature had a radiocarbon date of 1370 +/- 90 bc. A further cremation associated with a post hole was dated to 1530 +/- 50 bc.
2 Plan.
3 Letter and details of cremation urn.
4 Photograph of the urn.
 
Sources
Source No: 1
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: The Rollright Stones
Author/originator: Lambrick G
Date: 1988
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: The Rollright Stones
Author/originator: Lambrick G
Date: c1983
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Plan
Title: HBMC
Author/originator: Lambrick G
Date: 1988
Page Number: Fig 52
Volume/Sheet: Rollright
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Serial
Title: The Ashmolean
Author/originator:
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
technique Earthwork Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.

In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.

Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
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technique excavation Archaeologists excavate sites so that they can find information and recover archaeological materials before they are destroyed by erosion, construction or changes in land-use.

Depending on how complicated and widespread the archaeological deposits are, excavation can be done by hand or with heavy machinery. Archaeologists may excavate a site in a number of ways; either by open area excavation, by digging a test pit or a trial trench.
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period Mesolithic About 10,000 BC to 4001 BC

Mesolithic means 'Middle Stone Age'. It is the period that comes between the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) and the Neolithic (New Stone Age).

The Mesolithic period is a period of transition from the way people were living during the Palaeolithic period as hunter-gatherers to the development of farming in the Neolithic period.
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period Bronze Age About 2500 BC to 700 BC

The Bronze Age comes after the Neolithic period and before the Iron Age.

The day to day life of people in the Bronze Age probably changed little from how their ancestors had lived during the Neolithic period. They still lived in farmsteads, growing crops and rearing animals.

During the Bronze Age people discovered how to use bronze, an alloy of tin and copper (hence the name that has given to this era). They used it to make their tools and other objects, although they continued to use flint and a range of organic materials as well. A range of bronze axes, palstaves and spears has been found in Warwickshire.
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monument CREMATION PIT * A pit over which a corpse has been cremated on a pyre into which the remains and debris, and sometime grave goods, collapse and are buried. Generally confined to the Roman period. back
monument BARROW * Artificial mound of earth, turf and/or stone, normally constructed to contain or conceal burials. Use specific type where known. back
monument CREMATION * A funeral rite in which the human body is burnt, usually on a pyre, leaving fragmentary charred or completely combusted remains. Often found buried, occasionally in a container associated with grave goods. back
monument HOLLOW * A hollow, concave formation or place, which has sometimes been dug out. back
monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument STONE * Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function. back
monument URN * A garden ornament, usually of stone or metal, designed in the the form of a vase used to receive the ashes of the dead. back
monument FEATURE * Areas of indeterminate function. back
monument PIT * A hole or cavity in the ground, either natural or the result of excavation. Use more specific type where known. back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument DITCH * A long and narrow hollow or trench dug in the ground, often used to carry water though it may be dry for much of the year. back
monument BURIAL * An interment of human or animal remains. Use specific type where known. If component use with wider site type. Use FUNERARY SITE for optimum retrieval in searches. back
monument STRUCTURE * A construction of unknown function, either extant or implied by archaeological evidence. If known, use more specific type. back
monument FLINT SCATTER * A spatially discrete, though sometimes extensive, scatter of flint artefacts recovered from the surface, eg. by fieldwalking, rather than from a particular archaeological context. back
monument POST HOLE * A hole dug to provide a firm base for an upright post, often with stone packing. Use broader monument type where known. back
monument EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back
monument ROUND BARROW * Hemispherical mound surrounded by a ditch (or occasionally two or more concentric ditches), often accompanied by an external (or occasionally internal) bank. Mound and ditch may sometimes be separated by a berm. Use specific type where known. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record