Soldier's Grave Round Cairn View all content for Soldier's Grave

Details of site on Pastscape A round cairn of Early Bronze Age (or possibly Late Neolithic) date located circa 200 metres north of the Nympsfield long barrow (SO 70 SE 6) on the escarpment edge overlooking the vale of Berkeley. It was excavated in 1937, although by then it had been considerably disturbed, presumably by earlier unrecorded excavations. In 1937, it was measured at 56 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, although the previous unrecorded digging had left the centre resembling a large crater rather than a mound. The mound consisted entirely of stone, with no earth content. A stone kerb also appears to have originally surrounded the foot of the mound. Beneath the centre was a rock-cut boat-shaped pit lined with drystone walling, the "pointy" end facing south. The pit is presumed to have been covered originally by slabs, some being found in the nearby woodland. The pit was a maximum 11 feet in length and 4.5 feet wide, and was up to 3.75 feet deep. The pit contained a large quantity of disturbed, disarticulated and fragmented human remains representing between 28 and 44 individuals, adult and children, male and female all being represented. Some animal bones (ox, pig and dog) were also in the pit, as were two sherds of pottery. Some potsehrds were also found on the edge of the pit, while further sherds and animal bones were contained within the mound, along with the skeletal remains of a further adult male. The pottery was considered at the time to be Early Bronze Age, although the sherds are undiagnostic and effectively undated. The collective nature of the burials has prompted comparisons with Neolithic burial practices, although again the remains are effectively undated. SO 794015 (1). A round cairn situated in a wood about 230 yds. north of the Nympsfield long barrow (SO 70 SE 6) and measuring 56ft. in diamter by 7ft. high, is known as the Soldier's Grave. When excavated by Mrs Clifford in 1937 it was found to have been opened many years previously, and the centre removed. The mound was built entirely of freestone, without any admixture of soil, and below it in the centre was a rock-cut boat-shaped tomb lined with dry stone walling, and presumed to have been originally covered by stone slabs, two of which were found nearby. In the tomb were the remains of between 28 and 44 individuals; and incorporated in the mound were the bones of one adult male. Pottery found in the tomb and mound, and examined by Stuart Piggott, dates the barrow as Early Bronze Age, although it retains the collective burial rites of the Neolithic period (2) The shape of the tomb may relate it to the late B1 Beaker-makers who spread from Gloucestershire to Brecknock and Glamorgan, where there are similar shaped vaults, thought to suggest a ritual belief in a voyage of the dead(3) (1-3) SO79370152 A mutilated cairn up to 2.3 metres high with an off-centre, 1.5 metre deep pit. Surveyed at 1/2500 (4) The soldier's Grave round barrow is suggested by Darvill as of a category that may be dated to the Neolithic period. (5) Soldier's Grave. Listed by Kinnis as an example of a Neolithic round cairn with a boat-shaped rock-cut pit containing the fragmentary disarticulated remains of a minimum of 28 adults and children and plain pottery. (6) A round cairn of Early Bronze Age (or possibly Late Neolithic) date located circa 200 metres north of the Nympsfield long barrow (SO 70 SE 6) on the escarpment edge overlooking the vale of Berkeley. It was excavated in 1937, although by then it had been considerably disturbed, presumably by earlier unrecorded excavations. In 1937, it was measured at 56 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, although the previous unrecorded digging had left the centre resembling a large crater rather than a mound. The mound consisted entirely of stone, with no earth content. A stone kerb also appears to have originally surrounded the foot of the mound. Beneath the centre was a rock-cut boat-shaped pit lined with drystone walling, the "pointy" end facing south. The pit is presumed to have been covered originally by slabs, some being found in the nearby woodland. The pit was a maximum 11 feet in length and 4.5 feet wide, and was up to 3.75 feet deep. The pit contained a large quantity of disturbed, disarticulated and fragmented human remains representing between 28 and 44 individuals, adult and children, male and female all being represented. Some animal bones (ox, pig and dog) were also in the pit, as were two sherds of pottery. Some potsehrds were also found on the edge of the pit, while further sherds and animal bones were contained within the mound, along with the skeletal remains of a further adult male. The pottery was considered at the time to be Early Bronze Age, although the sherds are undiagnostic and effectively undated. The collective nature of the burials has prompted comparisons with Neolithic burial practices, although again the remains are effectively undated. (2, 6, 8-10) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE TEXT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ( 1) Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society O'Neil, H and L Grinsell. Gloucestershire Barrows 79 (1), 1960 Page(s)98 ( 2) Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Clifford, EM. The SOldier's Grave, Frocester, Gloucestershire 4, 1938 Page(s)214-8 ( 3) edited by I LL Foster and Glyn Daniel 1965 Prehistoric and early Wales Page(s)83 ( 4) Field Investigators Comments F1 MJF 06-JUN-72 ( 5) edited by Alan Saville 1984 Archaeology in Gloucestershire from the earliest hunters to the industrial age : essays dedicated to Helen O'Neil and the late Elsie Clifford Page(s)103, 134-6 ( 6) by Ian Kinnes 1979 Round barrows and ring-ditches in the British Neolithic British Museum occasional papers no.7 Page(s)21 ( 7) Scheduled Monument Notification 13-OCT-1999 (8) by Timothy Darvill 1987 Prehistoric Gloucestershire Page(s)74 (9) Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Oakley, KP. Cowry Shell and Flint Cores from Ashen Plains, Dursely, Gloucestershire [p95] 64, 1943 Page(s)89-95 (10) Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Clifford, EM. The Excavation of Nympsfield Long Barrow, Gloucestershire. Page(s)188-213

Posted by Chance 10th July 2012ce

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