ULAS
University of Leicester Archaeological Services

Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire

Living on the Edge - The Environs of a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure

In 1998, geophysical survey by ULAS located a major Neolithic monument at Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire - a causewayed enclosure dating from around 3000 BC - the first of its kind known from the county. The monument consisted of a circular open area, 150m in diameter, originally enclosed by interrupted banks and ditches, and would have served for meetings and ceremonies for the early farming communities living in the surrounding Soar, Welland, Swift and Avon valleys. When the significance of the discovery had been established, the site was withdrawn from proposals for gravel extraction, and has now been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM), providing protection from future development. Following survey and evaluation, a modified area was granted planning permission for gravel extraction, and three phases of archaeological work have been undertaken since the commencement of the quarry extension.

Initially, archaeological monitoring was carried out during topsoil stripping for a tunnel, beneath the road, linking the new quarry with the existing one, a haul road and new areas allocated for extraction and landscaping. This was followed by trial trenching and excavation of features found by geophysical survey to the south-west of the monument. Further topsoil stripping was then monitored to the north and south-west of the monument. This has located archaeological remains of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age date in the areas surrounding the causewayed enclosure. These features can be seen in the plan, right.

The earliest features on the site are large numbers of ‘tree throws’ - round pits with distinctive dark crescents of silt on one side where fallen tree boles have rotted away. The trees would have been part of the natural landscape before the woodland was cleared and the causewayed enclosure was constructed.

Contemporary evidence to the north and south-west of the Neolithic causewayed enclosure has been found. To the north were clusters of pits in groups containing flint and Neolithic pottery of the type known as Peterborough ware. Two of these were of particular interest containing, in addition to pottery and flint, large saddle querns (grinding stones) as shown left, and charred deposits with identifiable cereal remains. These may have been ‘special deposits’ placed as offerings, or the querns may have been buried for re-use during seasonal visits to the site. A pit to the west of the enclosure contained slightly later Beaker style pottery of late Neolithic-early Bronze Age date.

The area south of the enclosure had rather different Neolithic remains, including a circular monument (a large enclosure, shown right) and human burials - an inhumation (skeleton) in a crouched position and two cremations.

This crouched inhumation burial lay at the base of a deep rectangular pit which was capped by a layer of burnt cobbles and stones. The burial was positioned with the head to the south-east. Bone survival was unusual in that it was either present in generally reasonable condition or there was very little trace of it. The pelvis, ribcage and spine and most of the left leg and arm (i.e. the lower side of the body) were missing. Although some of the skull had decayed badly, one side of the upper jaw was in good condition. Initial indications suggest that the burial was of a 30 - 35 year old male.

A tool kit (shown below) of five late Neolithic - early Bronze Age flints, which may have originally been in a bag, lay by the feet, a flint flake near the skull, and two pieces of animal bone with a flint flake were by the wrist. Charred remains of an oak plank had been laid on its edge along the length of the side of the pit to the north-west of the burial. The plank’s position in the pit corresponded with a natural layer of loose silt and gravel along one side, and it may have acted as shuttering. This could imply that the pit was dug some time before the body was placed in it, or that the body remained uncovered for some time before the pit was filled in.

Near the crouched burial were several Iron Age pits, dug perhaps 1500 years after the burial, some of which contained quantities of large burnt cobbles. One of these pits is shown below. Could these stones have come from a stone mound or cairn which had once covered the burial pit?

Trial trenching and excavation were carried out in two further areas of the quarry extension, targeting features located by geophysical survey, including a ring ditch and a small rectangular enclosure. The excavation confirmed the presence of the ring ditch with two narrow causeways to the north-west. On the basis of the geophysical surveys this had been interpreted as a ploughed-out circular Bronze Age barrow. However, although the ditches were extremely deeply cut, no burial was present nor any feature likely to have contained one. There was no surviving evidence of a mound or external banks, although the initial geophysical survey had indicated that banks might have been present. The ditch varied in depth, perhaps suggesting that it had originally been dug out by different groups of people. Few finds were present the only dating evidence being sherds of Neolithic Peterborough ware pottery suggesting that the site was in use around 3000-2500 BC.

Two pit alignments, one crossing the ring ditch, were also located. Although not closely datable, these may be evidence of land division in the late Bronze-Early Iron Age. More tangible evidence of occupation occurred in the Middle to Late Iron Age, with a circular building, pits and enclosures to the south, and pits and an enclosure to the north of the monument. The circular building cut the upper layers of the ring ditch, suggesting that the monument was no longer visible at this time, with the banks or mound having eroded and the ditch now backfilled. By this time when the land was being divided up, it is unclear whether the causewayed enclosure was still visible as an earthwork.

The work to date at Husbands Bosworth has shown that the causewayed enclosure was a focus of activity during the prehistoric period, with evidence of seasonal occupation, the construction of a circular monument - perhaps a local variation of a ‘henge’ - and burials, during the Neolithic. There appears to have been a decline in activity during the Bronze Age until a period of land division using pit alignments began, perhaps early in the first millennium BC. By the late Iron Age, the land was being settled more intensively with several enclosures and at least one circular building. It is uncertain when the causewayed enclosure ceased to be visible as a feature in the landscape. Further work may help to elucidate what influence this important monument had on evolution of the surrounding landscape.

We would like to thank Lafarge Redland Aggregates and their consultants, Oxford Archaeological Associates, for their help and co-operation during this project.