Monument record 5390/0/6 - Late Neolithic/early Bronze Age round barrow (Barrow 5), West Cotton

A possible post circle was truncated by a later barrow mound and ditch with an outer ditch added later

{1} Barrow 5. Excavated in near salvage conditions and badly damaged by a Romano-British temenos. The barrow itself was preceded by a freestanding arc of posts, probably a circle, before being truncated by the inner barrow ditch. Possible entrance, 0.68m wide, in the middle of a flattened arc to the south-west. A single flint blade was recovered from one of the postholes. The fragmentary complex has many elements of freestanding Neolithic and early Bronze Age timber circles.
The first mound and ditch- central pit gave every impression of having held a burial although no human remains were present. The mound appears to have been built of topsoil or topsoil and turf. Two pits were cut through the centre of the mound into the primary central feature, although the sequence of events was confused. The mouth of a collared urn inverted in one covered substantial portions of the cremated remains of three adults accompanied by an unburnt bifacially flaked flint knife or dagger.
Two satallite cremations post-dated the mound.
Radiocarbon dates were obtained from a cattle skull and one of the satellite cremations.

<1> Harding, J. and Healy, F., 2008, The Raunds Area Project: A Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscape in Northamptonshire, p. 141-147 (Report). SNN106245.

Record last edited

Apr 23 2025 6:39PM