BARKHALE CAMP

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A Neolithic causewayed enclosure surviving as earthworks. The enclosure was surveyed by RCHME in 1995 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. See the archive report for full details of the site. The enclosure is located on the South Downs near Bignor Hill, just below the crest of the Downs on gently sloping ground. A single line of causewayed earthwork bank and ditch encloses an oval area measuring 215 metres by 145 metres internally. The enclosure is bisected by a trackway of probable early 19th century origin. North of the track, the earthworks are relatively well-preserved, despite the area being under the plough until recently. South of the track, in an area which was formerly wooded, the earthworks are poorly preserved. The site was first identified as a possible causewayed enclosure in 1929, when a single trench was dug across the ditch. The site was more fully investigated by V Seton-Williams in 1958-61 and by the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit in 1978, though in both cases all trenches were very small. Much of the pottery recovered was undiagnostic, and although some sherds were definitely Neolithic, most of the identifiable ones were Bronze Age, Iron Age or Roman. Large quantities of flint were found, including scrapers, a leaf-shaped arrowhead, and a transverse arrowhead. Most would fit into an Early Neolithic context, though they generally came from the ploughsoil.

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[SU 97581261} Camp [G.T.] (Neolithic Pottery and Flints found). [T.I.] (1)

Barkhale Camp, Bignor Hill. This small oval camp, surrounded by a single interrupted ditch, was discovered by Prof. J.A. Ryle, but has since been ploughed out. A trial trench dug by Prof. Ryle about 1930 yielded no finds. Since 1935 a large broad arrow-head with one side convex like a leaf and the other angular like a lozenge-shaped point, was found inside Barkhale Camp (2-3)

Excavations were begun in 1958 by Dr. V. Seton-Williams and three seasons work has been completed. The finds have been examined by Dr. I.F. Smith who considers the pottery to have Ebbsfleet characteristics and the flintwork to be typically secondary Neolithic. Listed (4-5)

The northern portion of this causewayed camp is under the plough and in very poor condition although its characteristics features are still recognisable. The southern portion is hidden within dense afforestation and appears to be almost completely destroyed. Surveyed at 1/2500 (5)

Evidently the remains of a Ne causewayed camp, generally reduced to an outward-facing scarp, 0.7m maximum height, though the characteristic interrupted ditch is discernible in the N arc. The greater N part of the camp occurs within a pasture field, and the S part is in process of being cleared of young firs which formerly overlaid it.

Surveyed at 1:2500. (6)

Mentioned in discussion and gazetteers of Neolithic causewayed enclosures. (7-9)

Excavations in 1958-61 and 1978 have confirmed that the site is a causewayed enclosure of Neolithic date, although finds including pottery, have been small in quantity, and no internal features have yet been discovered, largely because extensive area excavation inside the enclosure has not taken place. Pottery of Bronze Age, Iron Age and Romano-British types have also been recovered. A number of mounds inside the enclosure appear to be recent. (10)

Study of molluscan remains from Barkhale and other South Downs Neolithic enclosures. (11)

(SU 9758 1261) In December 1995, RCHME carried out an analytical earthwork survey of Barkhale Camp as part of the project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Period (12).

The earthwork remains much as described by previous sources. The southern part of the site has been cleared of woodland, so that the whole monument is now under pasture, although in the southern half, scrub is beginning to regenerate, and comes to the very edge of the site.

For further details, see RCHME Level 3 client report and plan at 1:1000 scale, held in NMR archive. A number of black and white photographs were taken of the site. (12)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1961.

( 2) by E Cecil Curwen 1954 The archaeology of Sussex

Page(s)70,89

( 3) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Curwen, EC. On Sussex Flint Arrowheads; p25 77, 1936 Page(s)15-25

( 4) by Stuart Piggott 1954 The Neolithic cultures of the British Isles : a study of the stone-using agricultural communities of Britain in the second millennium B.C.

Page(s)21,382

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 CFW 08-MAR-62

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F2 NKB 11-MAY-72

( 7) edited by D D A Simpson 1971 Economy and settlement in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Europe; papers delivered at a conference held in the University of Leicester, December 1969

Smith, IF. Causewayed Enclosures 1971 Page(s)89-111

( 8) Antiquity Publications Limited Antiquity

Wilson, DR. "Causewayed Camps" and "Interrupted Ditch Systems" 49, 1975 Page(s)178-186

( 9) Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

Palmer, R. Interrupted Ditch Enclosures in Britain: the use of aerial photography for comparative studies 42, 1976 Page(s)161-186

( 10) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Leach, PE. The Excavation of a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure on Barkhale Down, Bignor Hill, West Sussex 121, 1983 Page(s)11-30

(11) edited by Martin Bell and Susan Limbrey 1982 Archaeological aspects of woodland ecology

BAR international series Thomas, KD. Neolithic Enclosures and Woodland Habitats on the South Downs in Sussex, England. 146 Page(s)147-170

(12) General reference

RCHME: Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Period: Barkhale Camp Survey

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