80-535: Knap Hill lies on the northern rim of the Vale of Pewsey , in northern Wiltshire , England, about a mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Alton Priors . At the top of the hill is a causewayed enclosure , a form of Neolithic earthwork that was constructed in England from about 3700 BC onwards, characterized by the full or partial enclosure of an area with ditches that are interrupted by gaps, or causeways. Their purpose
160-439: A chambered long barrow on Walker Hill, and Rybury , a causewayed enclosure, two miles (3.2 km) further west. The south side of the hill is the steepest, with more gradual slopes to the north and west. A narrow neck of land connects it to Golden Ball Hill to the east. At one time there were two round barrows inside the enclosure; one of these was destroyed in the 19th century by flint diggers. A third barrow lies just outside
240-424: A ditch on either side, runs from the south-eastern corner of the causewayed enclosure down the hill, which is too steep for this to have been a pathway. Similarly, from one of the causeways on the north-western edge, a bank runs down the hill, this time with only one parallel ditch. Both were probably boundary ditches. Knap Hill is an example of an upland-oriented enclosure: it is on a prominent hill, which makes it
320-433: A dramatic location when viewed from the south, but the land on which the enclosure is constructed tilts towards the upland to the north of the hill. Several other upland enclosures are similarly situated, and this is probably not by chance. Whitesheet Hill , Combe Hill and Rybury are other examples of enclosures that are hard to identify when seen from the lower ground below them, but which are much more visible viewed from
400-524: A few cases, enclosures that had already been built continued to be used as late as 3300 to 3200 BC. Knap Hill is in Wiltshire , about a mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Alton Priors . It is part of the chalk hills that form the northern rim of the Vale of Pewsey , and is flanked by Golden Ball Hill to the east, and Walker Hill to the west. Golden Ball Hill has traces of Mesolithic activity, and two other Neolithic sites are nearby: Adam's Grave ,
480-474: A route through the downs which locally reach 200 to 300 metres. The Kennet and Avon Canal and the main line railway from London to the south-west make use of this route, the canal using the Bruce Tunnel . Formerly another rail route between Andover and Marlborough also followed this gap. Another line formerly branched off towards Bath via Devizes at the western end of the vale. The vale lies along
560-524: A second enclosure, to the north-east of the original target of their excavation, complicated the Cunningtons' work. To distinguish it from the "Old Camp", the new enclosure was labelled the "Plateau Enclosure" in Maud Cunnington's published paper. It was clear to Cunnington that the plateau enclosure was much more recent than the old enclosure, since the plateau enclosure's south-western ditch
640-467: A sheep and perhaps other ruminants", and commented in his account that this was consistent with other barrows in Wiltshire, which often contained animal bones near the surface of the barrow. He speculated that they were probably from a sacrifice or feast over the graves. Under the middle of the barrow was a circular hole dug into the chalk, two feet (60 cm) deep and two feet (60 cm) across. It
720-607: A single pot, had shell inclusions, and so must have come from at least 20 miles (32 km) away. Similar combinations of finds had been reported at Windmill Hill , Robin Hood's Ball , and Whitesheet Hill. Connah classified the pottery from the ditches as Windmill Hill ware , a classification current in the 1960s that attempted to identify individual cultures within the Neolithic, but since overturned in favour of separating Neolithic sites into Early and Late Neolithic. In addition to
800-411: A tribal chief. There is also evidence that they played a role in funeral rites: material such as food, pottery, and human remains were deliberately deposited in the ditches. They were constructed in a short time, which implies significant organization since substantial labour would have been required, for clearing the land, preparing trees for use as posts or palisades, and digging the ditches. In 1930,
880-642: Is mined from chalk deposits both above ground and underground . Chalk mining boomed during the Industrial Revolution , due to the need for chalk products such as quicklime and bricks . Most people first encounter chalk in school where it refers to blackboard chalk , which was originally made of mineral chalk, since it readily crumbles and leaves particles that stick loosely to rough surfaces, allowing it to make writing that can be readily erased. Blackboard chalk manufacturers now may use mineral chalk, other mineral sources of calcium carbonate, or
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#1732783217130960-610: Is a fine-textured, earthy type of limestone distinguished by its light colour, softness, and high porosity. It is composed mostly of tiny fragments of the calcite shells or skeletons of plankton , such as foraminifera or coccolithophores . These fragments mostly take the form of calcite plates ranging from 0.5 to 4 microns in size, though about 10% to 25% of a typical chalk is composed of fragments that are 10 to 100 microns in size. The larger fragments include intact plankton skeletons and skeletal fragments of larger organisms, such as molluscs , echinoderms , or bryozoans . Chalk
1040-404: Is a soft, white, porous , sedimentary carbonate rock . It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor . Chalk is common throughout Western Europe , where deposits underlie parts of France, and steep cliffs are often seen where they meet the sea in places such as
1120-508: Is also the only form of limestone that commonly shows signs of compaction. Flint (a type of chert ) is very common as bands parallel to the bedding or as nodules in seams , or linings to fractures , embedded in chalk. It is probably derived from sponge spicules or other siliceous organisms as water is expelled upwards during compaction. Flint is often deposited around larger fossils such as Echinoidea which may be silicified (i.e. replaced molecule by molecule by flint). Chalk
1200-428: Is applied to the hands and feet to remove perspiration and reduce slipping. Chalk may also be used as a house construction material instead of brick or wattle and daub : quarried chalk was cut into blocks and used as ashlar , or loose chalk was rammed into blocks and laid in mortar. There are still houses standing which have been constructed using chalk as the main building material. Most are pre- Victorian though
1280-518: Is commonly used as a drying agent to obtain better grip by gymnasts and rock climbers. Glazing putty mainly contains chalk as a filler in linseed oil . Chalk and other forms of limestone may be used for their properties as a base . Chalk is a source of quicklime by thermal decomposition , or slaked lime following quenching of quicklime with water. In agriculture , chalk is used for raising pH in soils with high acidity . Small doses of chalk can also be used as an antacid . Additionally,
1360-415: Is not known: they may have been settlements, or meeting places, or ritual sites of some kind. The site has been scheduled as an ancient monument . Knap Hill is notable as the first causewayed enclosure to be excavated and identified. In 1908 and 1909, Benjamin and Maud Cunnington spent two summers investigating the site, and Maud published two reports of their work, noting that there were several gaps in
1440-582: Is now usually made of talc (magnesium silicate). Chalk beds form important petroleum reservoirs in the North Sea and along the Gulf Coast of North America. In southeast England, deneholes are a notable example of ancient chalk pits. Such bell pits may also mark the sites of ancient flint mines, where the prime object was to remove flint nodules for stone tool manufacture. The surface remains at Cissbury are one such example, but perhaps
1520-604: Is so common in Cretaceous marine beds that the Cretaceous Period was named for these deposits. The name Cretaceous was derived from Latin creta , meaning chalk . Some deposits of chalk were formed after the Cretaceous. The Chalk Group is a European stratigraphic unit deposited during the late Cretaceous Period. It forms the famous White Cliffs of Dover in Kent , England, as well as their counterparts of
1600-563: Is the centre of activity for many of the smaller villages in and around the Vale of Pewsey and, as such, offers a wide range of activities for its small size. Avebury (stone circle), West Kennet Long Barrow , Savernake Forest , Crofton Pumping Station , Silbury Hill , Wilton Windmill , Alton Barnes ( crop circles ), Marlborough , Kennet and Avon Canal , Bruce Tunnel . 51°21′07″N 1°51′04″W / 51.352°N 1.851°W / 51.352; -1.851 Chalk Chalk
1680-401: Is typically almost pure calcite, CaCO 3 , with just 2% to 4% of other minerals. These are usually quartz and clay minerals , though collophane (cryptocrystalline apatite , a phosphate mineral) is also sometimes present, as nodules or as small pellets interpreted as fecal pellets. In some chalk beds, the calcite has been converted to dolomite , CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 , and in a few cases
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#17327832171301760-752: The Cap Blanc Nez on the other side of the Dover Strait . The Champagne region of France is mostly underlain by chalk deposits, which contain artificial caves used for wine storage . Some of the highest chalk cliffs in the world occur at Jasmund National Park in Germany and at Møns Klint in Denmark . Chalk deposits are also found in Cretaceous beds on other continents, such as the Austin Chalk , Selma Group , and Niobrara Formations of
1840-536: The Dover cliffs on the Kent coast of the English Channel . Chalk is mined for use in industry, such as for quicklime , bricks and builder's putty , and in agriculture , for raising pH in soils with high acidity . It is also used for " blackboard chalk " for writing and drawing on various types of surfaces, although these can also be manufactured from other carbonate-based minerals, or gypsum . Chalk
1920-727: The Stanchester Hoard . The find is now at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes . Since that time there have been several other Roman hoards discovered in the area. In 2005, significant Neolithic finds and two henge sites – the Marden and Wilsford Henges – were discovered in the vale. According to the Pewsey Vale Local Plan prepared by Kennet District Council in 1992, the vale includes land in
2000-614: The downs , the vale is included as part of the North Wessex Downs AONB ( Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty ). The vale is a major east–west feature opening to the west towards the Bristol Channel , but is drained by the headwaters of the Salisbury Avon , rather than the westward-flowing Bristol Avon . The river cuts through the chalk scarp to the south at Upavon and crosses Salisbury Plain towards
2080-419: The 17th-century inhabitants of the hilltop, since that would have led to turning the soil on the dais and mixing the sherds at different levels. The ruins of another rectangular building (F on the plan) were found against the eastern side of the plateau enclosure's bank, with both Roman and 17th-century pottery sherds in the walls and under the foundations. It was apparent that the building had been erected after
2160-748: The 1960s and early 1970s. The earlier sites were mostly found on chalk uplands, but many of the ones discovered from the air were on lower-lying ground. Over seventy are known in the British Isles, and they are one of the most common types of early Neolithic site in western Europe, with about a thousand known in all. They began to appear at different times in different parts of Europe: the dates range from before 4000 BC for such sites in northern France , to shortly before 3000 BC in northern Germany , Denmark and Poland . The enclosures in southern Britain and Ireland began to appear not long before 3700 BC, and continued to be built for at least 200 years. In
2240-431: The 19th century, noting "two small barrows, and another on the outside". John Thurnam investigated the barrows between 1853 and 1857, but found the easternmost of the two barrows within the enclosure had been destroyed by flint diggers, with no trace left. The western barrow was about two feet (60 cm) high, with a small ditch around it. Near the top of the barrow Thurnam found animal bones, which he described as "of
2320-553: The Gathering Time project published an analysis of radiocarbon dates which included several new dates from Connah's finds. It concluded that there was a 91% chance that the Knap Hill enclosure was constructed between 3530 and 3375 BC. Two barrows lay within the Neolithic enclosure, and at least one more outside it. The hilltop also contains the remains of a Romano-British settlement on an adjoining smaller area called
2400-411: The Gathering Time project published the results of a programme to reanalyse the radiocarbon dates of nearly 40 causewayed enclosures, using Bayesian analysis . Knap Hill was one of the sites included in the project. Connah had obtained two radiocarbon dates on samples gathered during the 1961 excavation, which he had published in 1969; these results were included in the Gathering Time analysis, and one
2480-541: The Neolithic ditch was simply an area of conveniently soft ground for the burial. The woman was probably in her 40s when she died, and was about 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall. She suffered from osteoarthritis , and had abscesses in her jaw: an evaluation by the Duckworth Laboratory in Cambridge concluded that she "most probably suffered agonies". Connah identified ditches on both sides of
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2560-732: The North American interior. Chalk is also found in western Egypt (Khoman Formation) and western Australia ( Miria Formation ). Chalk of Oligocene to Neogene age has been found in drill cores of rock under the Pacific Ocean at Stewart Arch in the Solomon Islands . There are layers of chalk, containing Globorotalia , in the Nicosia Formation of Cyprus , which formed during the Pliocene . Chalk
2640-467: The Windmill Hill ware, fragments from seven or eight pots of Beaker ware were found; Connah suggested they may have come from visits to the hill top, rather than an occupation. Connah also found some Romano-British pottery in his cuttings, including four Samian sherds, one of which could be dated to the late 1st century AD. Some later medieval pottery fragments were found in the upper layers of
2720-709: The adjacent Tan Hill summiting at 294 m / 965 ft. The vale is not used by any major roads, but is followed by a railway and canal as a route between the London Basin and the west. To the north of Burbage the head of the Avon valley, draining west into the vale, meets the head of the River Dun , draining east to the Kennet and the Thames . The valley floor at around 150 metres (490 ft) above sea level provides
2800-405: The archaeologist Cecil Curwen identified sixteen sites that were definitely or probably Neolithic causewayed enclosures. Excavations at five of these had already confirmed them as Neolithic, and another four of Curwen's sites are now agreed to be Neolithic. A few more were found over the succeeding decades, and the list of known sites was significantly expanded with the use of aerial photography in
2880-419: The bank extending past the ditch at the north-eastern edge. Both the ditch and the bank were built in seven segments, with six gaps, or causeways, between the segments. Another short ditch at the eastern corner of the hill was divided into two sections, but no ditch or bank has yet been found along the southern edge of the hilltop. Knap Hill is unusual in that the gaps in the ditch correspond exactly to those in
2960-456: The bank leading down from the eastern corner of the causewayed enclosure, and his excavation of one of the causeways (marked "iv" on his plan) found a shallow ditch cut in the chalk along the line of the bank leading down the hill on that side, which lay beneath a ditch along one side of that bank. None of these ditches had been noticed by the Cunningtons. Connah concluded that both were likely to have been constructed to mark boundaries. In 2011,
3040-407: The bank was raised, and were both circular, about two feet (60 cm) deep, and 3.5 to 4 ft (1.1–1.2 m) in diameter. These contained flint flakes, coarse pottery and some animal bones, and Cunnington concluded that they were contemporary with the old enclosure and that it was a coincidence the long bank was raised over them. A 6th-century Anglo-Saxon iron sword was found towards
3120-486: The bank; in most sites, there were at least three times as many gaps in the ditch as in the bank. The area of the enclosure is about 2.4 hectares (5.9 acres). To the north-east of the enclosure lies a smaller archaeological site known as the plateau enclosure, which dates from before and during the Romano-British occupation . The plateau enclosure was also occupied in the 1600s, perhaps by shepherds. A bank, with
3200-402: The barrow lay to the south of the causewayed enclosure, and if this is correct it is not the same barrow that Thurnam opened. In 1961, the causewayed enclosure was excavated again, by Graham Connah . Three trenches (i to iii in the diagram at right) were cut across three different segments of the ditches and banks, and one causeway (iv in the diagram) was fully excavated, including both ends of
3280-476: The body had been buried so near the surface of the barrow that the missing bones had been disturbed by animals. The only pottery sherds found were from the Roman period and were all near the surface, implying that the burial preceded the Roman occupation. Two low banks were found, running down the hill: one from the two ditches marked S on the plan, and one on the other side of the enclosure, leading down from one of
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3360-414: The bottom at the west end of the section, to eight feet (2.4 m) deep and only eighteen inches (0.46 m) wide at the bottom at the east end. They also made cuttings along the southern edge of the hilltop to determine if a ditch existed there which was no longer visible on the surface, and found two short ditch sections at the eastern corner (marked S–S on the plan). Most of the relics obtained from
3440-422: The causewayed enclosure, to the south-west, and a fourth barrow may also have existed to the south, though the records that refer to it may be a confused reference to the third barrow. The Neolithic causewayed enclosure on the top of Knap Hill consists of a ditch, and a bank inside it, that run along the north-western edge of the hilltop and extend partway down the south-western and north-eastern sides, with some of
3520-507: The causeways on the north-western edge. The one to the east was known locally as "The Devil's Trackway". The north-western bank led for fifty yards (46 m) towards an old track across the hill. In 1939 C. W. Phillips excavated a bowl barrow outside the enclosure, but never published a report. Two barrows outside the enclosure are listed in a gazetteer of Wiltshire by Leslie Grinsell , published in 1957, identified as Alton 10 and Alton 13. Phillips excavated Alton 13, but it may be that
3600-548: The chalk came mostly form low-magnesium calcite skeletons, so the sediments were already in the form of highly stable low-magnesium calcite when deposited. This is in contrast with most other limestones, which formed from high-magnesium calcite or aragonite that rapidly converted to the more stable low-magnesium calcite after deposition, resulting in the early cementation of such limestones. In chalk, absence of this calcium carbonate conversion process prevented early cementation, which partially accounts for chalk's high porosity. Chalk
3680-467: The cuttings, all of which may have originally been part of a single vessel. These sherds could not be accurately dated. In one of the cuttings a skeleton of a woman was found, near the top of the ditch. Nails found around the feet were interpreted as the remains of boots that had been reinforced with them. Connah concluded that the skeleton probably dated to the Roman-British occupation, and that
3760-560: The ditch and bank surrounding the enclosure. In the late 1920s, after the excavation of Windmill Hill and other sites, it became apparent that causewayed enclosures were a characteristic monument of the Neolithic period. About a thousand causewayed enclosures have now been found in Europe, including around seventy in Britain. This site was excavated again in 1961 by Graham Connah , who kept thorough stratigraphic documentation. In 2011,
3840-419: The ditches were found in clusters, and were usually within a foot (30 cm) of the bottom; they included some sherds of pottery, flint flakes and burnt flints, fragments of animal bones, and pieces of sarsen stone. The only human bone found was a small jaw bone with worn teeth. The pottery was coarse, with flint inclusions, and was found associated with flint flakes, leading Maud Cunnington to suggest that
3920-494: The dolomitized chalk has been dedolomitized back to calcite. Chalk is highly porous, with typical values of porosity ranging from 35 to 47 per cent. While it is similar in appearance to both gypsum and diatomite , chalk is identifiable by its hardness, fossil content, and its reaction to acid (it produces effervescence on contact). In Western Europe, chalk was formed in the Late Cretaceous Epoch and
4000-519: The early Neolithic , from about 3700 BC. (Both the causewayed enclosure and the hill itself are referred to as Knap Hill.) Causewayed enclosures are areas that are fully or partially enclosed by segmented ditches (that is, ditches interrupted by gaps, or causeways, of unexcavated ground), often with earthworks and palisades in some combination. How these enclosures were used has long been a matter of debate, and researchers have made many suggestions. They were previously known as "causewayed camps", since it
4080-437: The early Palaeocene Epoch (between 100 and 61 million years ago). It was deposited on extensive continental shelves at depths between 100 and 600 metres (330 and 1,970 ft), during a time of nonseasonal (likely arid) climate that reduced the amount of erosion from nearby exposed rock. The lack of nearby erosion explains the high purity of chalk. The coccolithophores, foraminifera, and other microscopic organisms from which
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#17327832171304160-422: The early years of the Roman occupation. Within the plateau enclosure was a long bank, running from south-west to north-east, with a circular mound at the north-eastern end. The Cunningtons found pottery sherds in the long bank that Maud Cunnington dated to Roman times. They also found in the centre of the bank that two pits lay beneath it, each marked P. on the plan. These had been dug from the ground level before
4240-466: The east near Burbage. There is also a small inlier of Greensand to the east at Shalbourne ; this area drains northwards to the Kennet. Neolithic sites in the vale include Knap Hill , a causewayed enclosure near Alton Priors , first investigated by Benjamin and Maud Cunnington in 1908–9. In 2000, near the village of Wilcot , a schoolboy found a hoard of Roman coins which became known as
4320-495: The edge of the long mound (at G on the plan). A round fire hole was found under the circular mound, containing wood ash and pottery, some of which Cunnington identified as Roman. Another fireplace was found to the south-east of the long mound, in a rectangular area of raised earth (which Cunnington referred to as the dais); this fireplace was T-shaped, and contained the lower stone of a quern , damaged by heat, four iron nails, and several fragments of pottery. Cunnington suggested that
4400-535: The eroded core of an anticline , a westward extension of the Mendip Axis, with a relatively thin covering of Mesozoic sediments folded upwards over an up-faulted horst of Palaeozoic rocks. The floor of the vale is composed of Albian (Lower Cretaceous) beds of the Upper Greensand , exposed by removal of the overlying chalk. It is surrounded to the north and south by chalk scarps which close to
4480-419: The fireplace must have been unusable once the quern was in it, and that this, along with the presence of the sword and the evidence of intense heat, implied a violent end to the occupation of the enclosure. Between the long bank and the dais were the remains of a small building (marked E on the plan), 23 by 13.5 ft (7.0 by 4.1 m), with walls made of blocks of chalk. Postholes were found at intervals in
4560-467: The following parishes: Alton , Buttermere , Burbage , Charlton , Chute , Chute Forest , Collingbourne Ducis , Collingbourne Kingston , Easton , Enford , Everleigh , Fittleton , Froxfield , Grafton , Great Bedwyn , Ham , Huish , Little Bedwyn , Manningford , Milton Lilbourne , Netheravon , North Newnton , Pewsey , Rushall , Shalbourne , Tidcombe and Fosbury , Upavon , Wilcot , Wilsford , Woodborough , and Wootton Rivers . Pewsey
4640-528: The mineral gypsum ( calcium sulfate ). While gypsum-based blackboard chalk is the lowest cost to produce, and thus widely used in the developing world , use of carbonate-based chalk produces larger particles and thus less dust, and it is marketed as "dustless chalk". Coloured chalks, pastel chalks, and sidewalk chalk (shaped into larger sticks and often coloured), used to draw on sidewalks , streets, and driveways , are primarily made of gypsum rather than calcium carbonate chalk. Magnesium carbonate chalk
4720-562: The most famous is the extensive complex at Grimes Graves in Norfolk . Chalk was traditionally used in recreation. In field sports, such as tennis played on grass, powdered chalk was used to mark the boundary lines of the playing field or court. If a ball hits the line, a cloud of chalk or pigment dust will be visible. In recent years, powdered chalk has been replaced with titanium dioxide . In gymnastics, rock-climbing, weightlifting and tug of war , chalk — now usually magnesium carbonate —
4800-483: The neighbouring uplands. The archaeologist Roger Mercer considered Knap Hill to be "the most striking of all causewayed enclosures", and recommended viewing it from the road to the west that runs from Marlborough to Alton Priors. The site has been scheduled as an ancient monument. Knap Hill was first mentioned as being of antiquarian interest in 1680, by John Aubrey , who described it as "a small Roman camp above Alton". Richard Colt Hoare mentioned Knap Hill early in
4880-458: The people who used the pottery may have been Neolithic, though she concluded that the inability to tell undecorated pottery of the Bronze Age and Neolithic periods apart meant that it was not possible to confidently assign a period. The Cunningtons found several flint-knapping clusters, including one group of seventy-two flint chips six feet (1.8 m) deep in the ditch. The discovery of
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#17327832171304960-443: The plateau enclosure ditch at the south-western edge, where it overlapped with the old enclosure, but Cunnington could not tell what the gap was for—an entrance was implausible as the bank was very steep at that point. The pottery found in the plateau ditch and bank was of much better quality than the coarse Neolithic pottery associated with the old enclosure: it included bead-rim pottery which Cunnington dated to just before or during
5040-444: The plateau enclosure had been built, but the Cunningtons found no other evidence that would help determine its date. The Cunningtons also opened the barrow outside the old enclosure, to the south-west (not marked on their plan, but labelled "Grinsell 10" on Connah's plan, below), and found a skeleton fairly near the surface, face down. It was missing all the bones of the legs and feet, and the right hand; Maud Cunnington speculated that
5120-478: The plateau enclosure, along with some evidence of occupation in the 17th century. An Anglo-Saxon sword was found in the smaller enclosure, and there is evidence of an intense fire in the same area, which implies a violent end to the Romano-British occupation of the hilltop. The main archaeological site at Knap Hill is a causewayed enclosure , a form of earthwork which began to be constructed in England in
5200-584: The publication of a short note by Maud Cunnington in the journal Man in 1909, in which she asked readers of the journal to suggest explanations: Recent excavations [at] Knap Hill Camp in Wiltshire revealed a feature which, if intentional, appears to be a method of defence hitherto unobserved in prehistoric fortifications in Britain... There are six openings or gaps through the rampart. It was thought at first that ... some of these gaps were due to cattle tracks, or possibly had been made for agricultural purposes... Excavations clearly showed that none of these gaps in
5280-472: The rampart are the result of wear or of any accidental circumstance, but that they are actually part of the original construction of the camp... Outside of, and corresponding to, each gap the ditch was never dug; that is to say, a solid gangway or causeway of unexcavated ground has been left in each case... Given the need for an entrenchment at all, it seems at first sight inexplicable why these frequent openings should have been left, when apparently they so weaken
5360-436: The small particles of chalk make it a substance ideal for cleaning and polishing. For example, toothpaste commonly contains small amounts of chalk, which serves as a mild abrasive . Polishing chalk is chalk prepared with a carefully controlled grain size, for very fine polishing of metals. French chalk (also known as tailor's chalk) is traditionally a hard chalk used to make temporary markings on cloth, mainly by tailors . It
5440-495: The south coast. The higher part of the eastern vale south of Burbage is drained by the River Bourne , which cuts the scarp at Collingbourne Kingston , joining the Avon at Salisbury . Since the area is not believed to have been glaciated, this probably indicates that the course of the rivers pre-dates the modern topography. The highest point is Milk Hill (near Alton Barnes ) at 295 m / 968 ft above sea level, with
5520-545: The south from the Marlborough Downs to the north. It is around 30 kilometres (19 mi) long and around 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) wide. At the western end is the town of Devizes. Larger settlements in the vale include Pewsey and Burbage with many smaller villages, the larger ones including Bishops Cannings , Etchilhampton , Urchfont , Chirton , Alton Priors , Woodborough , Milton Lilbourne , Easton Royal and Wootton Rivers . Although not itself part of
5600-470: The time the second summer's work had been completed, every causeway had been excavated sufficiently to prove that the ditches ended where they appeared to from what could be seen of them above ground. Maud Cunnington described the excavation in a 1912 paper. She and Benjamin excavated a 54 feet (16 m) long stretch of one of the ditches, and discovered that the width and depth varied greatly, from seven feet (2.1 m) deep and ten feet (3.0 m) wide at
5680-415: The two barrows are the same, in which case the barrow Phillips excavated was the same one that Thurnam investigated in the 1850s. Phillips found a crouched burial, at the old ground surface, and Neolithic potsherds; the potsherds may not indicate that the barrow is of Neolithic date since the sherds might have been present on the site at the time the barrow was constructed. Grinsell cites Phillips to say that
5760-446: The two ditches abutting it. Like the Cunningtons, Connah found a knapping cluster at the surface of the chalk in one of his cuttings. Connah found only a few sherds of pottery, and so combined his finds with those from the earlier excavation for analysis purposes, though some documentation on the exact provenance of the earlier finds had been lost since 1912. Most of the sherds found in 1961 had flint inclusions , but four sherds, from
5840-421: The walls. A rubbish pile next to the building yielded a sherd of 17th-century pottery, and in the area of the building and the dais were numerous clay pipes, some of which retained their makers' stamps and so could be dated with accuracy. The pipes and the pottery sherds from this area both were dated to the 17th century, mixed with Roman pottery in the dais. Cunnington concluded that the dais had been cultivated by
5920-543: The whole construction... It has been suggested ... that the work of fortifications was never finished, [but there is] considerable evidence in favour of these causeways being an intentional feature of the original design of the camp... The possible use which the gangways may have served is put forward with all diffidence, and any suggestion on the subject would be welcomed. This was the first time that causewayed ditches had been identified, though earlier excavations had taken place at sites now known to be causewayed enclosures. By
6000-480: Was almost full of ashes and burnt bones. The barrow outside the enclosure, which lay to the south-west, was about a foot (30 cm) high and Thurnam found nothing there but some animal bones near the surface. The Neolithic enclosure was first excavated by Maud and Benjamin Cunnington , in the summers of 1908 and 1909. The first summer's investigation revealed the segmented nature of the earthworks, and led to
6080-413: Was dug through the old enclosure's ditch, which had silted up almost completely by that time. Cunnington considered the plateau enclosure to have been constructed no earlier than the early Iron Age . The ditch and low rampart that surrounded the enclosure were mostly undetectable on the surface; the Cunningtons cut sections around the perimeter at intervals to confirm their path. A gap was also found in
6160-422: Was likely that the site was in use for "a short duration, probably ... well under a century, and perhaps only a generation or two". Vale of Pewsey The Vale of Pewsey or Pewsey Vale is an area of Wiltshire , England to the east of Devizes and south of Marlborough , centred on the village of Pewsey . The vale is an extent of lower lying ground separating the chalk downs of Salisbury Plain to
6240-491: Was resampled and tested again. Five other samples drawn from Connah's finds were also radiocarbon dated, as Connah's stratigraphic recording was precise enough to make it possible to identify samples which had good association with the building of the enclosure. The conclusion was that there was a 91% chance that Knap Hill was constructed between 3530 and 3375 BC, and a 92% chance that the ditch had silted up at some time between 3525 and 3220 BC. The researchers concluded that it
6320-418: Was suggested they could have been sally ports for defenders to emerge from and attack a besieging force; evidence of attacks at some sites provided support for the idea that the enclosures were fortified settlements. They may have been seasonal meeting places, used for trading cattle or other goods such as pottery, and if they were a focus for the local people, they may have been evidence of a local hierarchy with
6400-406: Was thought they were used as settlements: early investigators suggested that the inhabitants lived in the ditches, but this idea was later abandoned in favour of believing that any settlement was within the enclosure boundaries. In a 1912 report on an excavation at Knap Hill, it was assumed that the ramparts were a form of defence. The causeways were difficult to explain in military terms, though it
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