Report on the Investigation of a Round Barrow on Arreton Down, Isle of Wight

John Alexander; P. C.; A. Ozanne

doi:10.1017/S0079497X00016339

Report on the Investigation of a Round Barrow on Arreton Down, Isle of Wight

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 May 2014

John Alexander ,

P. C. and

A. Ozanne

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On the open downland, at the crest of the central chalk ridge of the Isle of Wight, and overlooking the village of Arreton, there are to-day two round barrows, the larger, some 9 feet high, known locally as Michael Morey's Hump, and the smaller, nameless and less than half as high, the subject of the present report. The barrow lies 20 feet to the south-west on the bank of the artificial cliff created by the Down End Chalk Quarry (see fig. 1). The barrow, endangered by the quarry, was examined in August and September 1956 on behalf of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, the Ministry of Works. The working party was composed of undergraduates from Cambridge and Durham Universities and volunteers from London and the Isle of Wight. Through the generosity of the landowner, Mr A. Brown, the objects found have been placed in Carisbrooke Castle Museum.

Type: Research Article
Information: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 26 , December 1960 , pp. 263 - 302

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0079497X00016339 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1960

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^{page 263 note 1} O.S. 6-inch Hampshire (I.O.W.), XCV, NE, 54, 41, 1, 14.6.

^{page 263 note 2} The excavation was directed by J. A. A. assisted by A. O.

^{page 263 note 3} Special thanks are due to Messrs Ozanne, Britton and Barfield for help in the excavation, to Mr P. Spragge for taking most of the photographs, and to Mr G. C. Dunning and Mr J. Jones for help, advice and the drawing of the ‘Blishen’ dagger.

^{page 263 note 4} Proceedings of the Isle of Wight Natural History and Archaeological Society (hereafter PIWNHAS), III (1938), 184Google Scholar.

^{page 263 note 5} J. Brit. Arch. Ass. (hereafter JBAA), VI (1851), 453Google Scholar and XIX (1863), 131.

^{page 263 note 6} JBAA, V (1850), 365Google Scholar.

^{page 265 note 1} A further 10 inches must be added to reach the old surface of the ground.

^{page 265 note 2} It seems likely that the east end was distorted by the mediaeval robbers testing bedrock here. The true length of the grave may have been 7 feet.

^{page 266 note 1} A further 10 inches must be added to reach the surface of the ground.

^{page 266 note 2} This would suggest that they were not more than 4 or 5 feet high and a slight hardening of the chalk round the mouths of some of them might have been due to ramming.

^{page 266 note 3} In any case it is too small for a quarry ditch.

^{page 266 note 4} These were in the bottom of the robber trench and had smooth sides. They could be associated with the stake circles, but might also be test pits cut by the robbers to make sure that bedrock had been reached.

^{page 268 note 1} JBAA, VI (1851), 453Google Scholar.

^{page 268 note 2} On the evidence of the mollusca the ditch had been left open for many months, so that a period of time separates the two primary inhumations (see p. 300).

^{page 269 note 1} About 8 feet by 6 feet.

^{page 269 note 2} A small fibrous mark was noted on the blade by Mr L. Biek of the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments Laboratory. He has suggested that it might be wood.

^{page 270 note 1} JBAA (1851), 453Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 2} Stanton Harcourt (Piggott, , Neolithic Cultures, 354Google Scholar) and especially Dunstable, (Arch. J. (1931), 193)Google Scholar, with an off-centre primary gravepit, secondary Neolithic pottery and flints from under the barrow, a buried ditch and a possibly Wessex II secondary burial.

^{page 270 note 3} Annual Report of the Institute of Archaeology, London (1943), 38Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 4} PPS, XXIII (1957), 137Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 5} Grinsell, , Ancient Burial Mounds, London (1941), 93Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 6} Grinsell, op. cit., 92.

^{page 270 note 7} Excavations in the Seven Beatitudes, 38.

^{page 270 note 8} Arch. J. (1958), 4Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 9} PPS, XVIII (1951), 148Google Scholar and Fox, , Life and Death in the Bronze Age (1959), 137Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 10} Oxoniensia, XI, 21Google Scholar. In any case the bedding trench is absent.

^{page 270 note 11} Excavations in the Seven Beatitudes, 52, where 35 are listed in Holland. Ashbee, (Arch. J. (1958), 5)Google Scholar lists only 2 in his Type C1 but it is difficult to separate from his C2.

^{page 270 note 12} Grinsell, , Ancient Burial Mounds, 97Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 13} PPS (1941), 106Google Scholar.

^{page 270 note 14} Brook Down 3.

^{page 270 note 15} Excavations in the Seven Beatitudes, 153 but see WAM, LVI (1956), 139Google Scholar.

^{page 271 note 1} For example Ashey Down 5, Bowcombe Down and Nunwell Down.

^{page 271 note 2} Proc. Univ. Bristol Spelaeological Soc., VI (1946–1949), 111Google Scholar.

^{page 271 note 3} Three skeletons with amputated hands and forearms were found at the centre of barrow I Bulford and were secondary to a deep grave in which was a skeleton with a perforated axe-hammer (WAM (1914), 616Google Scholar). I must thank Dr I. Smith for this reference. An example of a disarticulated forearm comes from Nutbane Long Barrow (PPS, XXV (1959), 24 and 46Google Scholar) but is thought to be a later disturbance.

^{page 271 note 4} Fox, , Life and Death in the Bronze Age (1959), 141Google Scholar.

^{page 271 note 5} PPS (1956), 137Google Scholar.

^{page 271 note 6} PIWNHAS, III (1938), 181–2Google Scholar.

^{page 271 note 7} Wilts. Arch. Mag., LVI (1956), 144Google Scholar.

^{page 272 note 1} Identified by Mr J. G. Pollard of the Fitzwilliam Museum as a 1st Brass of Crispina (wife of Commodus) A.D. 180–192, weight 20.912 gr., Ob. CRISPINA AUGUSTA, Rev. PVDICITIA S C (BMC, IV, p. 766Google Scholar, 419, pl. 102b).

^{page 273 note 1} It was not possible to say if this was a grave pit or part of the robber trench.

^{page 273 note 2} JBAA, VI (1851), 453Google Scholar.

^{page 273 note 3} JBAA, V (1850), 366Google Scholar.

^{page 273 note 4} ‘Anglo-Saxon Remains on the Isle of Wight’. Unpublished manuscript deposited with the Society of Antiquaries of London.

^{page 273 note 5} This came from the disturbed fill of the robber trenches and is of mediaeval type. Mediaeval Cat. London Mus., pl. lxxix.

^{page 273 note 6} The jar was made of poorly cleaned, shell-tempered ware. It was handmade and had a brushed-on self-slip. It had an angular everted rim and was finished off with a knife along the edge of its sagging base (fig. 5). It appears to have been fired in an upright position for the inside has oxidized a uniform red while the outside of the base and belly were reduced to black and the shoulder and rim were variegated. The closest parallels from the Island are from Windcliffe and are most likely to belong to the thirteenth century. Thanks are due to Mr G. Dunning for help with the identification and to Mr L. Barfield for the reconstruction of the pot.

^{page 273 note 7} PIWNHAS, III (1938), 185Google Scholar.

^{page 273 note 8} Archaeologia, V, 113Google Scholar.

^{page 273 note 9} JBAA (1850), 366Google Scholar. At the same time antiquaries were excavating Michael Morey's Hump. They recorded and saved the Anglo-Saxon objects.

^{page 274 note 1} Thanks are due to Mr L. Biek for arranging these analyses.

^{page 274 note 2} Ann. Rep. Lond. Univ. Inst. Arch. (1953), 146Google Scholar.

^{page 274 note 3} Childe, Homington Wilts., Prehistoric Communities, 95Google Scholar.

^{page 274 note 4} Sandars, , Bronze Age Cultures, 58Google Scholar, fig. 14.

^{page 274 note 5} Déchelette, , Manuel, II, 191Google Scholar, fig. 57.

^{page 274 note 6} Thanks are due to Mr Blishen and to Mr J. Jones of Carisbrooke Castle Museum for permission to publish details of nos. 2 and 3.

^{page 275 note 1} PPS, IV (1938), 59Google Scholar.

^{page 275 note 2} ABM, 35.

^{page 275 note 3} 10th Ann. Rep. Lond. Univ. Inst. Arch., 40.

^{page 276 note 1} Archaeologia, 85, 205Google Scholar.

^{page 276 note 2} PPS, XXII (1955), 59Google Scholar.

^{page 276 note 3} E.g. Germania, 21 (1937), 91Google Scholar.

^{page 276 note 4} I am indebted to Dr C. L. Forbes for this identification.

^{page 276 note 5} NCBI, 86.

^{page 276 note 6} I am indebted to Miss J. E. King of the British Museum (Natural History) for this information.

^{page 276 note 7} Childe, , Prehistoric Communities, 136Google Scholar.

^{page 276 note 8} Colt Hoare (1812), 198 and Greenwell (1877), 552.

^{page 276 note 9} Dolgozatok, VII (1931), 37 and pl. X.

^{page 276 note 10} Colt Hoare (1812), 198.

^{page 276 note 11} This is due to the surrounding soil having been scraped up to make the barrow, and to the considerable de-turfing of the area in recent years.

^{page 277 note 1} A description of these is in the Carisbrooke Museum.

^{page 277 note 2} The horse-teeth reported in 1855 cannot be considered, for they may well have come from later disturbances.

^{page 277 note 3} Similar finds have come from other Neolithic sites, e.g. Camp, Whitehawk, Ant. J., XIV (1934), 112Google Scholar.

^{page 279 note 1} E.g. Piggott, , Neolithic Cultures, 308Google Scholar.

^{page 281 note 1} See above, p. 277.

^{page 281 note 2} See Plan, fig. 4.

^{page 281 note 3} Cf. comments on the flint industry, above p. 277.

^{page 281 note 4} For a discussion of this overlap, see Piggott, , Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles, 374–9Google Scholar.

^{page 281 note 5} PIWNHAS, II, 292 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 282 note 1} Clark, , Antiquity, V, 415–26Google Scholar.

^{page 282 note 2} Maiden Castle, 158 and 159, nos. 122, 123.

^{page 282 note 3} Ant. J., II (1922), 224–33Google Scholar.

^{page 282 note 4} PIWNHAS, II, 196Google Scholar.

^{page 282 note 5} Piggott, , Neolithic Cultures, 75Google Scholar.

^{page 282 note 6} Maiden Castle, nos. 88, 110, 111, 123.

^{page 282 note 7} Pitt-Rivers, , Cranborne Chase, IVGoogle Scholar, pl. 261, no. 10.

^{page 282 note 8} Ibid., pl. 261, no. 11.

^{page 283 note 1} Pitt-Rivers, , Cranborne Chase, IVGoogle Scholar, pl. 294, no. 2.

^{page 283 note 2} Ibid., pl. 294, no. 5; pl. 298, no. 8.

^{page 283 note 3} PPS, II (1936), 84–5Google Scholar and pl. XXII.

^{page 283 note 4} Neolithic Cultures, 310.

^{page 283 note 5} SAC, LXXVII, 79Google Scholar, fig. 26.

^{page 283 note 6} SAC, LXXII, 136Google Scholar, nos. 13, 14.

^{page 283 note 7} SAC, LXXI, 65Google Scholar, pl. vi, no. 14.

^{page 283 note 8} PPS, XXIII (1957), 73Google Scholar, no. 4.

^{page 283 note 9} Devizes Mus. Cat., II, 29Google Scholar.

^{page 283 note 10} Childe, Prehistoric Communities, fig. 33.

^{page 283 note 11} PPS, XXIII (1957), 154Google Scholar, no. 5.

^{page 283 note 12} Ibid., 154, no. 9.

^{page 283 note 13} Inst. Arch. Report., no. 12, 37.

^{page 284 note 1} Devises Mus. Cat., II, pl. 6, no. 2.

^{page 284 note 2} PPS, I (1935), 53Google Scholar, fig. 12e.

^{page 284 note 3} PPS, XXIII (1957), 197Google Scholar, fig. 22B.

^{page 284 note 4} Thanks are due to Professor Clark, Mr E. Higgs and Mr R. Inskeep for helpful suggestions, and to Miss M. O. Miller, who drew the flints.

^{page 284 note 5} I am indebted to Dr C. L. Forbes of the Sedgwick Museum for the identification and this useful suggestion.

^{page 286 note 1} The distinction between some of the cores utilized for scraping and the tools described as thermal-flake scrapers is a convenience only, since in some cases it is impossible to tell whether the core or the flakes were the by-product.

^{page 287 note 1} ‘Length’ was measured as the greatest dimension at right angles to the striking platform, ‘Breadth’ greatest dimension parallel to the platform.

^{page 291 note 1} Arch. J., XCI, 32 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 291 note 2} Parallels to these have figured as ‘ovates’ in the older publications, cf. WAM, XLVIII, 156Google Scholar, pl. iv.

^{page 294 note 1} Surface finds from Arreton Down in the Carisbrooke Museum include a leaf-shaped arrowhead (PIWNHAS. III, Pt. II, 126) and a small collection of two scrapers, an axe, and utilized flakes.

^{page 294 note 2} Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles, 282 ff.

^{page 294 note 3} The Arreton ‘fabricator’ is precisely matched by a tool from a Neolithic A context at Maiden Castle; cf. Maiden Castle, fig. 40, no. 19.

^{page 294 note 4} Piggott, op. cit., 280, fig. 4. Archaeologia, LXIII, 153Google Scholar, figs. 38, 39. WAM, XLVIII, 150 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 294 note 5} PIWNHAS, II, Pt. VII, pl. iv, 37.

^{page 294 note 6} PIWNHAS, II, Pt. III, 191, pl. i, 2.

^{page 295 note 1} PPSEA, II, 446Google Scholar.

^{page 295 note 2} Ibid., V, 220, nos. 5, 8, 12; 290, no. 6.

^{page 295 note 3} Flints in the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, quoted by kind permission of the Curator.

^{page 295 note 3} Grimes Graves Report, figs. 28, 34; Archaeologia, LXIII, 113Google Scholar, figs. 1, 2; PPSEA, I, 423Google Scholar; II, 278, fig. 44B, 288, 299, 300, fig. 57C, D, 413 and 417, fig. 83H; III, 75 ff., fig. 13 E, F, G, fig. 15H, I and fig. 17C; IV, 198, figs. 5, 6; V, 106, fig. 3b and 120, fig. 10.

^{page 295 note 4} PPSEA, I, 455Google Scholar, pl. cxvi.

^{page 295 note 5} Ibid., II, 378, fig. 75E.

^{page 295 note 6} PPSEA, I, pl. lxiii, 1, 2.

^{page 295 note 7} Ibid., II, pl. xii, b.

^{page 295 note 8} Ant. J., XIV, 123Google Scholar, fig. 82; SAC, LXXI, 73Google Scholar, pl. xii, 3.

^{page 295 note 9} PPSEA, I, pl. lxiii, 4, 5; Archaeologia, XLII, pl. viii, 10, 11.

^{page 295 note 10} PPSEA, IV, 88 f.Google Scholar

^{page 295 note 11} SAC, LXV, 84Google Scholar, 2 (large).

^{page 295 note 12} Ibid., LXVII, 131, 16.

^{page 295 note 13} PPSEA, III, 99 fGoogle Scholar; PPS, II, 181Google Scholar.

^{page 295 note 14} WAM, XLVIII, 156Google Scholar, pl. iv, 52–4, 56, 58.

^{page 295 note 15} Ibid., LII, 298, fig. 6, 15, 16.

^{page 295 note 16} Ibid., XLV, 359, fig. 22.

^{page 295 note 17} Proc. Devon Arch. Expl. Soc. 1930,, pl. xxx, 126 (flat undersurface); 1931, pl. xxxii, 214; 1935, pl. xl, 1307.

^{page 295 note 18} Ibid. 1936, pl. lxiv, 3; pl. lxv, 6, 7.

^{page 295 note 19} Ibid. 1951, pl. xxxiv.

^{page 295 note 20} Ibid. 1930, 12.

^{page 295 note 21} Surrey Arch. Soc. Research Paper, 3, 32 and fig. 8, 1, 3.

^{page 295 note 22} Barrow 2 at Niton, which yielded Neolithic A and B and Beaker potsherds associated with flint scrapers, cores and flakes. The absence of more distinctive flint types is disappointing. PIWNHAS, II, Pt. III, 196.

^{page 295 note 23} PPSEA, II, 421Google Scholar, fig. 85F, 424; V, 131, figs. 24, 25.

^{page 295 note 24} Ibid., III, 69.

^{page 295 note 25} PPS, XX, 218Google Scholar, fig. 4, no. 5.

^{page 295 note 26} SAC, LXV, 85Google Scholar.

^{page 295 note 27} Ant. J., XIV, pl. xxviii g.

^{page 295 note 28} Ant. J., XIV, 251, fig. 3, no. 2.

^{page 295 note 29} WAM, XLV, 350 ff.Google Scholar, figs. 28, 32.

^{page 295 note 30} Maiden Castle, fig. 45, 94, 95 (two scrapers notched for binding, from Neolithic B levels).

^{page 295 note 31} Proc. Devon. Arch. Expl. Soc. 1932, pl. xxi, 1047.

^{page 296 note 1} Proc. Hants. Field Club and Arch. Soc., X, Pt. I, 25 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 296 note 2} PIWNHAS, II, Pt. VII, 578.

^{page 296 note 3} Arch. J., LXXXVIII, 141Google Scholar.

^{page 296 note 4} PPS, XXIII, 154 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 296 note 5} WAM, XLVIII, 150Google Scholar.

^{page 296 note 6} Niton, Arreton Down, Lea Farm, Blackpan Common, Nunwell Down, Sandown (two sites), Brading.

^{page 296 note 7} PIWNHAS, II, 197–8Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 1} PIWNHAS, II, 36Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 2} Unpublished information in the Carisbrooke Castle Museum kindly supplied by Mr J. Jones, the curator.

^{page 297 note 3} PBAA, XXXV (1888), 1Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 4} PIWNHAS, III, 181Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 5} Neolithic Cultures, 363.

^{page 297 note 6} PIWNHAS, II, 292Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 7} PIWNHAS, III, 36Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 8} PIWNHAS, II, 36Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 9} Neolithic Cultures, 380.

^{page 297 note 10} The objects in the Carisbrooke Castle Museum attributed to this barrow are from Arreton Down. Drawings of the proper group are in the Dennet MSS.

^{page 297 note 11} PIWNHAS, III, 179Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 12} PIWNHAS, III, 181–2Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 13} Ant. J., XXVII, 177Google Scholar.

^{page 297 note 14} Ant. J., XXII, 198Google Scholar.

^{page 298 note 1} Afton and Nunwell, (Man 13 (1913)Google Scholar, no. 12 and PIWNHAS, III, 295Google Scholar).

^{page 298 note 2} Hampshire F.C., X, 42Google Scholar. The Sussex beakers would fit into a movement of this sort.

^{page 298 note 3} This is presumably included by M. A. Smith among the ‘experimental renderings of the Trassem-Lanquaid spear’ (PPS, XXV, 165Google Scholar).

^{page 298 note 4} Hillier, , History and Antiquities of the Isle of Wight, 6Google Scholar.

^{page 298 note 5} Hillier, loc. cit., and also two sherds from Arreton.

^{page 299 note *} JBAA, V, 367Google Scholar.

^{page 301 note *} Symposium on domestication RAI, May (1960).

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