| Summary : Bronze Age bowl barrow, Grinsell's Avebury 46b, visible as a badly damaged earthwork mound and a cropmark ditch. It has been identified (tentatively) with Merewether's barrow 13, excavated in 1849. Merewether reported finding cremated human remains, pottery, animal remains and a jet bead. The mound of the barrow is not visible on aerial photographs. However, a surrounding ditch is visible as a cropmark and measures roughly 25m in diameter. |
More information : [nb - this record formerly contained details on 4 round barrows - Grinsell's Avebury 48b, 46, 46a and 46b. Each has now been recorded individually (SU 07 SE 44, 50, 15 & 51 respectively) in order to provide a clear account and description of each. Refer to OS record card SU 07 SE 15 for original format and details]
('A': SU 09277121) Tumulus (NR) (1)
Merewether (2) excavated three barrows on the east side of Windmill Hill in 1849, "commencing with the lowest on the
hill's side", possibly those annotated A, B, and C on OS 6", Merewether's 13, 14 and 15 respectively.
('A') Avebury 46b; a bowl barrow, 25 paces in diameter by 1ft
high. On arable (3). Probable primary cremation; in the material of the mound, a bead, possibly of jet, and nine smooth pebbles (4).
'A': SU 09287122. A spread bowl barrow approximately 20.0m by 12.0m and 0.3m high. In a poor condition. Under plough.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (5, 5a)
Documentary sources dealing with the round barrows on Windmill Hill were examined as part of the RCHME project on Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic, this review also providing the context for recasting the existing Monarch records (see first paragraph). Grinsell's Avebury 46b seems most likely to equate with Merewether's no. 13, Goddard's Avebury 46, and Smith's barrow 'g'. The identification with Merewether's 13 is probable, but not certain. Merewether dug into several barrows in the Avebury/Yatesbury area in the summer of 1849 as part of the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain, based that year in Salisbury. For further discussion see the archive report. (6, 6a)
The mound of the barrow described by the previous authorities was not visible on aerial photographs. However, a surrounding ditch was visible as a cropmark and measures roughly 25m in diameter. (7-8)
The mound of the barrow is visible on lidar and was mapped as part of the Avebury WHS Lidar and NMP Review.
(9) |