Excavations at a Neolithic Enclosure on The Peak, near Birdlip, Gloucestershire

摘要

Surveys and excavations in 1980-1 confirmed Peak Camp as a Neolithic enclosure on a flat promontory of theCotswold escarpment overlooking the Severn Valley just 1 km south of Crickley Hill. Although heavily erodedby quarrying the site can be reconstructed as having two concentric arcs of boundary earthworks forming anoval plan which was probably open to the north where a steep natural slope defined the edge of the site. Asection through the outer boundary showed four main phases of ditch construction, at least one causewayed.An extensive series of radiocarbon dates shows construction began in the late 37th century cal BC and probablycontinued through successive remodellings into the 33rd century cal BC or beyond. An internal ditch orelongated pit situated in the area between the inner and outer boundary earthworks had a similar history. Where sampled, the ditch and internal feature were rich in material culture, including a substantial assemblageof plain bowl pottery; flint implements and working waste; animal remains dominated by cattle but includingalso the remains of a cat; human foot bones; slight traces of cereal production; a fragment of a Group VI axe; part of a sandstone disc; and a highly unusual shale arc pendant of continental type. It is suggested that the ditch fills represent selectively redeposited midden material from within the site that started to accumulate in the late Sth or early 4th millennium cal BC. The construction and use of Peak Camp is contemporary with activity on Crickley Hill, and the two sites probably formed components of a single complex. Its use was also contemporary with the deposition of burials at local long barrows in the Cotswold-Severn tradition which are linked by common ceramic traditions and the selective deposition of human body parts.