Stuart Needham

This volume is the first in a series of archaeological resource assessments commissioned by Jersey Heritage as part of an Archaeological Research Framework for the island. It is a comprehensive study of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age of Jersey in the context of the other Channel Islands and their relationship with north-west France. The first part of the book describes our current state of knowledge and in the second part research objectives and questions are presented. These are designed to guide those responsible for the care and protection of artefacts, archaeological deposits and monuments. Researchers will benefit from the resource assessment as it provides an academic framework for future investigations in Jersey.

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014-18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from excavations into one of its major cemeteries - Petersfield Heath, Hampshire. Fourteen of 21 surviving barrows were sampled by excavation, one of the fullest records for such a cemetery in modern times. In addition to diverse burial rites, the site yielded a range of ‘other significant deposits’ and totally novel insights into the organic artefact repertoire thanks to mineral replacement. Amongst the supplementary material in this volume are: a crucial new analysis of enclosure barrows in Wessex; further analyses regarding barrow morphologies, condition, cemetery formation and siting; observations on damage and recommendations on the future management of the archaeology of Petersfield Heath; detailed context descriptions for the block-lifted urns and log-coffin burial subjected to pioneering stratigraphic micro-excavation; summaries of palaeoenvironmental evidence from the region; the full report on quartz optical dating; a major re-assessment of the excavated ring-ditch at Heath End, Duncton; further detail on finds; and details on various methodologies and definitions employed in the volume. Together the two volumes contain much new for those researching the period, early burial practices and the prehistoric occupation of the western Weald. They will also galvanise debates about variations in the character of barrowscapes across Britain and the place of the Wessex barrow foci.

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014-18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from excavations into one of its major cemeteries - Petersfield Heath, Hampshire. Fourteen of 21 surviving barrows were sampled by excavation, one of the fullest records for such a cemetery in modern times. In addition to diverse burial rites, the site yielded a range of 'other significant deposits' and totally novel insights into the organic artifact repertoire thanks to mineral replacement. There are substantial repercussions for the conventional classification of barrows and in this region the key difference between mound barrows and enclosure barrows is seen to have a socio-cultural background. This and other differences of approach to the siting and aggregation of barrows contribute to the reconstruction of 16 settled communities across the region. These emerge from a strong Mesolithic to Neolithic presence, the latter documented for the first time, and evidence including solstitial alignments suggests direct continuity to the Middle Bronze Age fieldscapes of the region. This book is supported by a separate volume containing an extensive body of supplementary information and evaluation. Together they contain much new for those researching the period, early burial practices and the prehistoric occupation of the western Weald. They will also galvanize debates about variations in the character of barrowscapes across Britain and the place of the Wessex barrow foci.

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014-18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from excavations into one of its major cemeteries - Petersfield Heath, Hampshire. Fourteen of 21 surviving barrows were sampled by excavation, one of the fullest records for such a cemetery in modern times. In addition to diverse burial rites, the site yielded a range of 'other significant deposits' and totally novel insights into the organic artifact repertoire thanks to mineral replacement. There are substantial repercussions for the conventional classification of barrows and in this region the key difference between mound barrows and enclosure barrows is seen to have a socio-cultural background. This and other differences of approach to the siting and aggregation of barrows contribute to the reconstruction of 16 settled communities across the region. These emerge from a strong Mesolithic to Neolithic presence, the latter documented for the first time, and evidence including solstitial alignments suggests direct continuity to the Middle Bronze Age fieldscapes of the region. This book is supported by a separate volume containing an extensive body of supplementary information and evaluation. Together they contain much new for those researching the period, early burial practices and the prehistoric occupation of the western Weald. They will also galvanize debates about variations in the character of barrowscapes across Britain and the place of the Wessex barrow foci.

Barrows at the Core of Bronze Age Communities argues exactly that. Round barrows do not just represent the death side of Early Bronze Age communities placed in set-a-side ritual landscapes, but were instead central to existence in many ways. This study of the Rother Region, where the Weald meets the Wessex massif, reports the results of the People of the Heath project, 2014-18. It integrates a wealth of data from comprehensive field study of all relevant sites in the region with that from excavations into one of its major cemeteries - Petersfield Heath, Hampshire. Fourteen of 21 surviving barrows were sampled by excavation, one of the fullest records for such a cemetery in modern times. In addition to diverse burial rites, the site yielded a range of 'other significant deposits' and totally novel insights into the organic artifact repertoire thanks to mineral replacement. Amongst the supplementary material in this volume are: a crucial new analysis of enclosure barrows in Wessex; further analyses regarding barrow morphologies, condition, cemetery formation, and siting; observations on damage and recommendations on the future management of the archaeology of Petersfield Heath; detailed context descriptions for the block-lifted urns and log-coffin burial subjected to pioneering stratigraphic micro-excavation; summaries of palaeoenvironmental evidence from the region; the full report on quartz optical dating; a major re-assessment of the excavated ring-ditch at Heath End, Duncton; further detail on finds; and details on various methodologies and definitions employed in the volume. Together the two volumes contain much new for those researching the period, early burial practices and the prehistoric occupation of the western Weald. They will also galvanize debates about variations in the character of barrowscapes across Britain and the place of the Wessex barrow foci.

The discovery in 2001 of an exquisite Early Bronze Age gold cup at Ringlemere Farm in Kent prompted an extensive survey and excavation of the site from 2002–2006. Excavation revealed a site with a long history of use, the most striking evidence being for intensive activity in the third millennium BC associated with a henge monument, the interior of which was later buried beneath an Early Bronze Age mound. This volume presents a detailed report on a rich array of structural and artefactual evidence spanning a few thousand years of prehistory, and the site’s subsequent slide into agricultural anonymity. Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age structures include a horseshoe setting, post alignments, hearths, pit clusters and varied small post settings. Evaluation of form and associated material culture steers interpretation away from the purely domestic and contributes to the keen ongoing debate about the place of ceremony in the world of third millennium Britain.

Documentation and description of the history and substance of the hoard, lost for over two centuries since its original 18th century discovery, and found once more in the Queen's collection.