Sample: AB122, context 3928, submitted by M Allen on 11 March 1994
Material: animal bone, Cervus elaphus right tibia(D Serjeantson)
Initial comment: from the southern entrance of the Ditch, near the terminal (C26.2). Hawley's Diary (16/7/1924) is slightly ambiguous, but it seems probable that it is phase 1. The nature of the bone - an unusually large red deer tibia, and its location - close to the jawbones flanking the causeway, suggest that it may have been deliberately deposited.
Objectives: to determine whether the placed deposits in the terminals of the Ditch are contemporary with its construction.
Calibrated date range: 3500-3040 cal BC (95% confidence)
OxA-4834 4460+/-45BP (-23.1 per mil)
Sample: AB126, context 3929, submitted by M Allen on 11 March 1994
Material: animal bone, Bos right jaw with teeth (D Serjeantson)
Initial comment: from the eastern terminal of the Ditch at the southern causeway (C26.6). Hawley's Diary states it was on the bottom (24/7/1924), and the label that it was from the second crater. This bone (and AB131 below) are interpreted as deliberate deposits early in the use of the Ditch.
Objectives: to determine whether the placed deposits in the terminals of the Ditch are contemporary with its construction.
Calibrated date range: 3350-2920 cal BC (95% confidence)
OxA-4835 4455+/-40BP (-22.4 per mil)
Sample: AB131, context 2480, submitted by M Allen on 11 March 1994
Material: animal bone, Bos right jaw with three teeth (D Serjeantson)
Initial comment: from the western terminal of the Ditch at the southern causeway (C26.7). Hawley's Diary states that it was on the bottom (26/7/1924), and the label that it was from the third crater. This bone (and AB126 above) are interpreted as deliberate deposits early in the use of the Ditch.
Objectives: to determine whether the placed deposits in the terminals of the Ditch are contemporary with its construction.
Calibrated date range: 3340-2920 cal BC (95% confidence)
OxA-4842 4520+/-100BP (-23.8 per mil)
Sample: AB41, context 3930, submitted by M Allen on 11 March 1994
Material: animal bone, Bos primigenius skull (D Serjeantson)
Initial comment: found in a feature cut through the Ditch silts to within a few inches of the bottom of the Ditch. The ox skull lay at the bottom of the feature, which was located in the southern part of the circuit, close to, although not at, the terminal of the southern entrance (to the west of this).
Objectives: to determine whether phase 2 overlaps with phase 3, and the duration of phase 2.
Calibrated date range: 3510-2920 cal BC (95% confidence)
Archaeological comment (M Allen): this result was significantly earlier than expected for a sample from phase 2, so the contextual information (Hawley 1928, 163; Diary 7/1926) was re-examined. This suggested that an important point had been overlooked in the original interpretation of the archive, and that the skull was in fact disturbed by the cut, and not within it (see Cleal et al 1995, 90 for a fuller discussion of this point). Its proximity to the Ditch terminal therefore seems significant, and it is interpreted as a placed deposit.
Quality assurance measurements are available for these results, in addition to further details of the chemistry and measurement techniques.
Comment on series (M Allen): all of these results are earlier than those obtained from the antlers thought to have been used to dig the Ditch. This places great importance on these objects and provides a strong argument for the deliberate strategic placing of collected and curated objects. This is the first statistically demonstrable evidence for the curation of selected `ritual' items in the British Neolithic. This activity is not out of place in causewayed enclosures and therefore in hindsight not inexplicable in the context of this major ritual Monument.
Ditch Terminals