Description

Summary: The archaeological finds assemblage from the causewayed enclosure on Knap Hill, Alton, excavated by G Connah, 1961.

Research results

Bradley (2020), discussing the implications of refinements to our understanding of Early and Middle Neolithic Monuments over the last decade has highlighted a potentially important contrast between causewayed enclosures and long barrows: suggesting that whilst the latter often have shorter use lives than previously thought, they are typically the final feature, closing off a much more long lived sequence. Causewayed enclosures on the otherhand do the opposite, denoting an area and often (although not always, as here) acting as the starting point of a longer sequence.

Marshall et al. (2020) have recently published the results of a Radiocarbon dating scheme carried out on the site in 2005. The results support the interpretations of the original excavator, and suggest a brief period of occupation between 3530-3375 cal BC and 3525-3220 cal BC.

The archaeological archive from excavations on Knap Hill, Alton, excavated by Graham Connah and the University of Cambridge in 1961. The 1961 excavations sought to test the conclusions of the Cunnington's 1908-9 excavations and improve our understanding of the development of the causewayed enclosure. The insubstantial neolithic remains recovered from within the ditches, as well as the lack of evidence for maintainance in the form of recuts, etc., led the excavators to suggest that the enclosure was only extremely short lived, and perhaps even unfinished, suggesting that it was built for defensive reasons. In addition, evidence for sporadic early Bronze Age occupation was identified, as well as a possible Romano-British burial and small cermaic assemblage, probably associated with the nearby settlement.