| Summary : Two Neolithic hengiform monuments identified as cropmarks and excavated in 1964-5. The larger comprises a penannular ditch circa 9 metres in diameter, and featuring an entrance gap to the north. Concentric to it, and a few metres to the north, was an arc of four irregular lengths of ditch. The southern side of the penannular ditch, directly opposite the entrance, either cut or was cut by a hook-shaped gully associated with 3 post holes. A few metres west of this first enclosure was a second, smaller penannular ditch circa 6.4 metres in diameter and featuring a northeast-facing entrance. Its interior was crossed east-west by a shallow gully which appeared to predate the enclosure. Finds from the 3 ditched features include Neolithic pottery (Mildenhall and Grooved Ware), a flint arrowhead, animal bones (including a cattle skull from the ditch of the larger enclosure). Antler fragments featuring incised linear decoration and traces of red colouring were found in the ditch of the smaller enclosure and one of the segmented ditches. The ditch of the larger enclosure contained a red deer rib with incised decoration plus red and black colouring. Some adjacent pits proved to contain later Bronze Age pottery, animal remains and "thin slivers of copper or bronze". |
More information : (TF 125074 derived from OS 1:10000) The multi-period site at Maxey was discovered by Dr. J.K.St. Joseph from aerial photography (see TF 10 NW 1 for an outline of the main features). Circular cropmarks at Maxey were plotted in the 1956 RCHME survey of archaeological sites on river gravels. (1)
In 1965-6 RCHME site 69 at Maxey was excavated by the Welland Valley Research Committee. The site comprised two penannular ditches, 30 ft and 21 ft in diameter and 4 ft wide with entrances facing N and NE respectively. The large enclosure was concentric with an incomplete ditch 60 ft in diameter composed of six segments, and the small enclosure lay partly within the area. The monuments must clearly be assigned to the Class I group of henges of mid-late Neolithic, despite a large sherd of Mildenhall ware in the fill. Three painted objects were found: two deer antlers and a deer rib, incised and painted and probably ritual objects. Their decoration is comparable to that on an antler from Garboldisham, Norfolk, at Skara Brae, and on tombs of the Boyne Culture.(2)
In early 1965 topsoil was stripped from the northern half of the field centred on TF 126075 in preparation for gravel quarrying. Cropmarks in the field showed two small hengiform monuments - RCHME site 69 comprising of two ring ditches and five pits. Medieval ridge and furrow had been flattened by modern cross ploughing causing considerable damage to the monument. No evidence was found to suggest that the ring ditches had enclosed mounds or been used for burials. There was evidence to suggest that there were banks around the outer edges of the ditches. The incomplete segmented ditch around ditch 1 might have been associated with a complete penannular bank possibly linking with the bank around ring ditch 2.
The penannular ditches are remarkable for their small size, they are reminiscent of drip gullies around Iron Age round houses but the finds suggest a mid-late Neolithic date. Comparison can be made to site 4 at City Farm, Hanborough an oval single-entrance hengiform earthwork measuring 4.9m x 7.6m. It is difficult to find convincing Neolithic parallels for the decorated antlers and bone. Incised linear chevron ornament, red ochre and black colouring is known from similar objects from Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic contexts. Bone points with incised single chevrons are known from Neolithic contexts at Skara Brae. It may be more satisfactory to regard the Maxey objects as the end of an earlier decorative tradition used in a ritual context. Of the five pits excavated, two produced datable pottery, a mixture of coarse and fine wares probably dating to the early to middle first millenium BC. Animal bones, loomweights, fragments of daub and briquetage were also found suggesting that the pits were part of an unenclosed BA settlement (see TF 10 NW 66). (3)
The small hengiform monument (RCHM site 69) or monuments, was located about 550ft south of the large henge (TF 10 NW 59). Although morphologically quite disimilar the two sites share some important points: they are circular and broached by a single entranceway, ditch fills suggest concentric, external banks and domestic rubbish was very rare in primary contexts. The small henge produced engraved and painted bone and antler objects and sherds of non-Peterborough Neolithic pottery (probably from secondary levels).(4)
There was no evidence for long term use found from the smaller henge at Maxey. (5)
Additional reference. (6)
Maxey, Site 69, I. TF 1257 0746 (sic) Small sub-circular penannular enclosure.
Maxey, Site 69, II. TF 1256 0746 (sic) Small sub-circular penannular enclosure lying 10m to the ENE of Site 69, I.
Both described as 'mini' henges or causewayed barrows, although no funerary material was found. (7) |