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Survey - (continued from previous page)
Before the project most of these monuments had not been dated, but it seemed likely they spanned a considerable depth of time. The relationship between the monuments suggested, unexpectedly, that the cursus and post rings were still visible when the pit alignments were dug.
We had two overlapping objectives at Catholme. The first was to obtain data about the principal monuments of the complex, including their date, function, phasing and preservation. The second aim was to investigate a range of different field techniques. Hence, Simon Buteux and Mark Hewson devised a programme that included the investigation of LiDAR data (undertaken by Stephen Wilkes), and an intensive assessment of geophysical techniques and data modelling (undertaken by Meg Watters), excavation and environmental analyses, all maintained together within a GIS. The synergy of techniques proved to be perhaps the most salutary lesson from the project.
| Encroachment of quarrying. |
'Woodhenge' |
'Woodhenge' from above. |
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The fieldwork began with geophysical survey, conducted in three separate phases. The first covered a large area of the landscape using magnetic and resistance techniques. This did not identify additional features, but provided greater clarity to the known monuments, and enabled their accurate location on the ground. This informed the second phase, which focussed on the Sunburst Monument, part of the Woodhenge Monument and a section of the northern pit alignment, using the same techniques and GPR at a high resolution. This was repeated in the third phase, after the stripping of topsoil for excavation.
This final survey gave remarkably clear results, providing data that allowed Watters to model in 3D the deposits identified by GPR. The first trench was positioned over the centre of the Sunburst Monument, taking in the whole of the ring ditch and some of the surrounding pits. The second trench covered the north-western quadrant of the Woodhenge Monument and its centrally enclosed space. We investigated four pits in the alignment in the third trench, where we had an opportunity to see if the apparent relationship with the other monuments could be demonstrated stratigraphically and chronologically.
Sunburst
The Sunburst ring ditch lay between an internal and an external bank, with a single break in its western side; it was just over 2m wide and survived to over half a metre deep. In places it seemed that it may have been preceded by a ring of pits, which lined up with the pits radiating out from the monument. We excavated 13 of these small pits beyond the ring ditch, showing that most had not held posts but were U-shaped in profile. After the ditch had refilled, it had been dug out again in segments.
At the centre of the ring ditch were the remains of a burial pit 2.4m×1.8m and 0.4m deep. The body had completely deteriorated but was identified by characteristic stains in the soil. Associated with the body were sherds of pottery and worked lithics. Ann Woodward has shown that the sherds probably derived from a single Beaker of David Clarke's "Northern/North Rhine" group; petrographic study by Rob Ixer indicated that it may have travelled from northern England, or more likely from Scotland, suggesting the person was of some importance. Similarly, Lawrence Barfield suggests that some of the stone artefacts from the monument were not local.
Watters' 3D modelling of the GPR data had accurately picked up the segmented recutting of the second phase, in addition to the earlier ditch and the central burial. It had also picked out the surrounding pits. Most significantly, the GPR had shown a circle of pits beneath the ring ditch, which we identified in excavation as a possible earlier phase. We would have missed these by excavation alone, which sampled the ring ditch in plan and section according to the scheduling constraints. However, with the three-dimensional GPR data, it was possible to understand this critical phase.
All this suggests that the radiating lines of pits had been the first monument. The innermost pit circle had then been reworked, initially with a hengiform type of ditch with a single entrance, and later by a segmented ditch. Modelling of the four radiocarbon dates from the ditch, by Derek Hamilton, Peter Marshall, Gordon Cook and Christopher Bronk Ramsey, indicated that the two phases occurred close together, with the recut around 2570–2490BC. In contrast, the Beaker pottery associated with the central burial suggests this was a later insertion at around 2000BC, some 500 years later. The "sunburst" itself remains undated, but must still have been visible when the first ditch was dug.
Woodhenge
At the Woodhenge Monument we excavated 23 pits, some from each of the five rings. They were around a metre in diameter and in places over a metre deep, and straight-sided. Three contained the remains of oak timbers (flecks of charcoal and dark soil stains), confirming the morphological suggestion that they once held uprights, presenting something of a forest – a total of 195 tall posts in five rings each of 39. As well as the circular arrangement, the pits effectively form 32 radiating lines, comparable to the 12 lines at the Sunburst Monument.
There were few finds. The three lithics from the excavation were of local gravel flint, in contrast to that from the Sunburst Monument. All but one of five samples from the oak posts produced statistically indistinguishable radiocarbon dates, indicating that the different rings were contemporaneous, with construction dating to 2570–2470BC – the time of the recutting of the ring ditch at the Sunburst Monument.
At the northern pit alignment, we again surveyed the area using geophysics both before and after stripping the topsoil. The results reflected those from excavation, revealing six large, sub-rectangular pits on an east-west alignment; these were 2.3m–2.8m across and 0.8m in depth, with just 20cm between them in their truncated state. It is possible that they originally overlapped or joined at the surface, although there was no indication of the positioning of spoil. There was no evidence to suggest that they ever held upright structures; nor were there any organic remains for radiocarbon dating.
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