Monument record MDO2271 - Bronze Age barrow on The Knoll, Puncknowle

A bowl barrow, one of three barrows situated on the Knoll. In 1952 this monument was reported as 64 feet in diameter with a mound about 4 feet high. It is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs taken in 1946 and was digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

A bowl barrow; diameter 20 paces height 4ft. <2> Similar information. <3> A ditchless bowl barrow, under the plough. The mound has a diameter of 23.0m, and a height of 0.7m. The top is flattened, and a quantity of large stones is exposed. <4> Bowl barrow 20 paces diameter and 4ft high. It was excavated by E. Greenfield in 1959 for the Ministry of Works. Slightly north west of the centre was a cremation, assumed to be primary, of an adult, sex uncertain, but probably under 30 years of age. It was contained in an upright biconical urn supported by stones and placed in a small oval pit near the centre of a sub-rectangular burnt area which was probably the site of a pyre. Above the interment was a loose cairn revetted by inward-sloping slabs and covered by a mound of soil. Finds in Dorset County Museum, Accn. No. 1962-12.1. NW of centre primary cremation in upright biconical urn, in a small oval pit. Near centre of sub rectangular burnt area probably site of pyre. Above this was a loose cairn revetted by inward sloping cairn revetted by inward sloping slabs and covered by mound of soil. <5-7> Full excavation report and discussion on the transitional pottery. The primary burial was situated in the N.W quadrant of the barrow in a pit sealed by a horizontal stone shale surrounded by a square-shaped emplacement of burnt stone, above which was a cairn of loosely packed stone. The cremation urn is unusual in being a biconical/bucket urn suggesting a date of C14th and C13th BC. Fragments of Romano-British pottery reprsenting at least newels were found in two pits to the north and south of the barrow. <8> Visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs <1> and digitally plotted for the South Dorset Ridgeway Mapping Project.

Record last edited

Apr 12 2023 8:22PM