Dorstone Hill: A Neolithic timescape

Keith Ray, Julian Thomas*, Nick Overton, Seren Griffiths, Tim Hoverd, Michael J. Allen, Alistair Barclay, Julie Birchenall, Dana Challinor, Charley French, Elizabeth Healey, Rob Ixer, Anne Roseveare, Martin Roseveare, Irene Garcia Rovira, Adam Stanford, Isabel Wiltshire

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Studies of early fourth-millennium BC Britain have typically focused on the Early Neolithic sites of Wessex and Orkney; what can the investigation of sites located in areas beyond these core regions add? The authors report on excavations (2011-2019) at Dorstone Hill in Herefordshire, which have revealed a remarkable complex of Early Neolithic monuments: three long barrows constructed on the footprints of three timber buildings that had been deliberately burned, plus a nearby causewayed enclosure. A Bayesian chronological model demonstrates the precocious character of many of the site's elements and strengthens the evidence for the role of tombs and houses/halls in the creation and commemoration of foundational social groups in Neolithic Britain.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)869-886
Number of pages18
JournalAntiquity
Volume97
Issue number394
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The Beneath Hay Bluff project has been supported by the Universities of Manchester and Cardiff, Herefordshire Council, and the Institute for Field Research.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd.

Keywords

  • Bayesian modelling
  • Britain
  • causewayed enclosure
  • long mounds
  • Neolithic
  • social organisation

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