EDO6791 - Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic, Hambledon Hill, Child Okeford; earthwork survey 1996

Between late May and late August 1996, the Cambridge and Exeter offices of The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England carried out an earthwork survey of the multi-period earthwork complex on Hambledon Hill, Dorset, as part of the project to record Enclosure and Industry in the Neolithic Period (see Event record 923509) and following a request from English Heritage for an accurate plan of the Iron Age hillfort for management purposes. The investigation was supported by English Nature, who manage much of the site, and by Roger Mercer, who is currently preparing the final publication of the excavation programme undertaken on the Neolithic elements of the site between 1974 and 1986. The archaeological history was researched by NMR recorders in Swindon, using both published and unpublished sources. The field survey recorded in detail all the surviving earthworks within the land managed by English Nature, and carried out brief examinations of those known to have been ploughed out. Ordnance Survey control was established using a Wild TC1610 theodolite with integral EDM and Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) equipment. The details of the Neolithic earthworks and those within the hillfort were recorded at 1:1000 scale by conventional graphical methods. The remainder of the earthworks, including the ramparts of the hillfort, were recorded at the same scale using the GPS equipment. Subsequently, aerial photographic analysis was undertaken by the Aerial Photographic Unit. A report and plan were produced to RCHME Level 3.