Monument Number 964700 |
| Hob Uid: 964700 | |
Location :
Leicestershire
Melton
Eaton
|
| Grid Ref : SK7620026600 |
| Summary : An Early Bronze Age round barrow at Piper Hole Farm, Eaton excavated in 1979 following recognition that the site was suffering from plough damage. Four concentric ring ditches were present. The innermost was 3 metres wide, 1 metre deep and up to 17 metres in diameter. It had a causeway 1 metre wide on its south western side. The outermost of the four ditches was 40 metres in diameter, 4 metres wide and 0.9 metres deep. The central area contained three or four burials, all stratigraphically linked. The earliest was a cremation in a small wooden coffin, and was accompanied by a small flint flake. A rectangular pit which disturbed this first interment contained traces of an oak coffin plus fragments of human teeth. It is assumed that an inhumation was present, but did not survive in the acidic soil conditions. A shallow pit cutting this second grave contained an adult cremation, a flint flake and a sherd of Beaker pottery. A radiocarbon date of 1500+/-70 bc (uncalibrated) was obtained from charcoal in the pit. Finally, a fourth possible burial comprised a shallow pit containing some fragmentary bone. 161 stake holes were found, the majority within the area enclosed by the second ditch, the majority cutting the backfilled inner ditch. The excavations also produced a small quantity of Beaker and Early Bronze Age potsherds, a quantity of flints, and over 1900 sherds of Romano-British potsherds recovered from ploughsoil above and adjacent areas. |
More information : In 1979 a multi-ringed round barrow was excavated at Eaton and five
phases were discernable. There were 4 burials; a cremation in a
wooden casket, an inhumation in a tree trunk coffin, a cremation
with a flint knife and another inhumation burial. There were 4
ditches, one of which was recut. Carbon 14 dates of 1480 + or - 80BC
and 1500 + or - 70BC were obtained. (1)
Flint blades, bladelets, spalls, core rejuvenation flakes, cores,
blade cores, scrapers, knives, arrowheads, serrated blades, flakes
and other flint artefacts. (2) |