Monument record 6867 - Middle Neolithic enclosure and mortuary deposit, Banbury Lane

A circular enclosure comprising three concentric ditches. A later pit contained a large deposit of disarticulated human bone, probably buried in a single episode in the middle Neolithic

{1} Geophysical survey undertaken in 2010. Three concentric, positive anomalies were identified. The outer of these was a ditch, c.23m in diameter. The middle, less magnetically strong, anomaly represents either a ditch or possibly a ring of pits and was c.16m in diameter. The inner circular anomaly was c.9m across and is probably a further ditch.
This putative Neolithic hengiform monument was detected on the northern part of the 7ha site. This sits on the base of the River Nene valley and if it is a Neolithic monument presumably relates to sites in the wider archaeological landscape such as the causewayed enclosure at Briar Hill. The concentric ditches together may form a Neolithic henge monument of which there are parallels elsewhere in the county such as Cotton Henge, Raunds.

{2} Archaeological trial trench evaluation was undertaken in 2011. Three ditches corresponding to the concentric, curvilinear, geophysical anomalies were identified. The outer ditch was c.1.6m wide and less than 0.4m deep. At c.1m wide and only 0.1 m deep the intermediate ditch was the shallowest of the three, as suggested by the weakness of the geophysical anomaly. The inner ditch was similar in size to the outer ditch. It was c.1 .5m wide and 0.4m deep. There was no firm evidence to suggest that any of the ditches had been re-dug. The possible double-ditch base in the outer ditch was the only possible indication of re-digging. The distribution of larger stones within both fills of the outer ditch tentatively suggests the presence of a bank on the inside. However, the concentration of stones on the western side of both fills of the inner ditch would suggest an external bank to this phase of the monument.
Of the three ditches only the intermediate ditch produced finds - 14 sherds from a Collared Urn, indicating that this ditch was open in the early Bronze Age. Ecofact samples were sterile of ecofacts and artefacts.
The three concentric ditches represent a prehistoric monument, c. 22m in diameter. No mound material was present and no sequence between the three ditches could be identified. Such monuments are typically associated with burial and/or ceremonial activities. The presence of sherds of Collared Urn from the intermediate ditch would support both an early Bronze Age date and the funerary interpretation. The monument’s diameter would also be consistent with other ‘multiple ring ditch’ monuments of late Neolithic or early Bronze Age date.
Henges are a different type of monument, often characterised by ditches which have been redug several times; they too are associated with ceremonial activities. The possibility that the monument originated as a hengi-form of Neolithic date cannot be ruled out. After all, the sherds of early Bronze Age Collared Urn were only found in one of the three ditches.

{3} Archeaological excavation was subsequently undertaken later in 2011. The circular enclosure comprised three closely-spaced concentric ditches separated by 2m wide berms. There were no surviving cut features within the inner ditch. There were broad entrances, 4m wide, to the north west through the middle and outer ditches, but on the outer ditch the entrance had been closed by cutting a further length of ditch between the entrance terminals. In the base of the outer ditch a number of stepped deepenings suggest that it had been dug as a series of elongated pits. To the north east an oval pit cut into the base of the outer ditch contained a deposit of red deer antler.
The inner and outer ditches both had primary fills containing gravel, eroded from the ditch edges. In some of the outer ditch sections there appeared to have been greater quantities of gravel, suggesting the possible presence of either an adjacent bank or central mound but this assymetry was not evident in all sections. The sequence of ditch cutting cannot be established stratigraphically.

An elongated pit, 2.8m long by 1.4m wide by 0.4m deep had been either cut through a length of the fully silted inner ditch or had truncated the silted terminals at a narrow entrance. The pit was therefore not a primary feature of the monument although it may have been part of an act of closure, perhaps blocking access to the central area and itself subsequently closed off by the blocking of the entrance through the inner ditch. The pit contained a dense mass of disarticulated human bone: 16 layers were removed and preliminary assessment suggests a possible total of 7500 bones and 9400 bone fragments. It is thought that 130 individuals are represented. Only selected bones, particularly the femur with lesser quantities of the other major limb bones, had been collected for deposition in the pit. Fragments of skull are present in some quantity but vertibra and ribs are rare, and there are no hand or foot bones. Initial examination of the bone has recorded the presence of frequent lesions around the major limb joints, suggesting that the deposited material may have come from partially decayed corpses that had been forcibly dismembered to separate the major long bone joints. Initial radiocarbon dates indicate that the bone deposit was the product of a single event occurring in the middle Neolithic (3360-3100BC).

To the north east, above the pit containing antlers were the partial remains of a child, perhaps an incomplete secondary inhumation.

A satellite burial, a poorly-preserved tightly-crouched inhumation, lay 30m to the south of the monument.

<1> Simmonds C.; Butler A., 2010, Archaeological Geophysical Survey on Land South of Banbury Lane, Northampton, p.3-4 (checked) (Report). SNN107269.

<2> Barker B.; Luke M., 2011, Land at Banbury Lane, Pineham, Northampton: Archaeological Field Evaluation, p.10,17 (checked) (Report). SNN107251.

<3> Holmes M.; Yates A.; Chapman A.;Wolframm-Murray Y., 2012, A Middle Neolithic Enclosure and Mortuary Deposit at Banbury Lane, Northampton: An Interim Report, p.22 (checked) (Article). SNN108359.

<4> Holmes M., 2012, Archaeological Excavation on Land off Banbury Lane, Pineham, Northampton: Assessment Report and Updated Project Design (Report). SNN109202.

Record last edited

Sep 17 2021 12:54PM