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Back to Barrow Clump with Breaking Ground Heritage / Operation Nightingale

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After a gap of three years Wessex returned once more to Barrow Clump, again with the support of Defence Infrastructure Organisation, but this time in mid-Winter rather than mid-Summer! The reason, as before, was further badger damage to Anglo-Saxon graves, in particular those inaccessible (to us) beneath the roots of mature beech trees. Would 2017 live up to the excitement of 2012−14 … and what would it be like for people camping on site during a particularly cold snap at the end of November?

For the first few days we sieved badger spoil – not exciting but necessary − recovering disarticulated human bone as well as a Saxon knife. We then brought in a machine and opened a small area and two evaluation trenches beyond the trees and outside the scheduled area. At first it looked like we might be going home early, but a rapid trowel of the chalk revealed four graves in the excavation area and three more in one of the evaluation trenches, helping define the known extent of the cemetery.

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Adult male burial with pot. Photography © Harvey Mills

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Photography © Harvey Mills

The seven graves contained two adults and five infants/juveniles – one of the latter with a brooch and another with a small pot. A female adult was buried with a pair of copper alloy disc brooches, tweezers, pin and a perforated Roman coin, along with glass and amber beads. However, it was the adult male that stole the show this time – there was a well preserved spearhead, buckle and knife, but the undoubted star find was a beautifully decorated pot in exceptional condition (pictured right), the only such vessel from Barrow Clump and of a type rare in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Wiltshire.

Another Success

It was all over too quickly … another success for Breaking Ground Heritage / Operation Nightingale, not only for the archaeological results but also − and just as important − in bringing together friends from earlier years at the Clump with new participants, all sustained by the camp fire and Dickie Bennett’s catering skills – never have hot dogs tasted so good! So, thank-you everyone who took part, those who provided invaluable support in various ways, and others who brought timely gifts of home-made cakes, warm mince pies and firewood. An excellent result that certainly did live up to the excitement of earlier years – though Winter camping was voted a distant second to Summer camping!

By Phil Andrews, Project Manager

Source: Wessex Archaeology

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