Summary
A Neolithic long barrow recorded as cropmarks visable on aerial photographs.
Reasons for Designation
The Neolithic long barrow 720m east of Otby House is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: as a clearly defined cropmark and soil mark representing the burial practices, beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities;
* Potential: for the buried deposits which retain considerable potential to provide evidence relating to social organisation and demographics, cultural associations, human development, disease, diet, and death rituals. Buried environmental evidence can also inform us about the landscape in which the barrows were constructed;
* Period: as one of very few monument types dating to the early prehistoric, it is highly representative of the period;
* Rarity: as an example of a monument type which is rare nationally and one of very few monument types to offer us insight into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country;
* Group value: for its close proximity to other monuments which contribute to the understanding of the continuity and change in the use of this important landscape.
History
Long barrows and chambered tombs are the main forms of Neolithic funerary monument, constructed from before 3800 BC with new monuments continuing to be built throughout the 4th millennium BC. Where they are precisely dated it appears their primary use for burial rarely lasted longer than about 100 years. Generally comprising long, linear earthen mounds or stone cairns, often flanked by ditches, they can appear as distinctive features in the landscape. They measure up to about 100m in length, 35m in width and 4m in height, and are sometimes trapezoidal or oval in plan. Earthen long barrows are found mostly in southern and eastern England and are usually unchambered, although some examples have been found to contain timber mortuary structures. Regional variation in construction is generally a reflection of locally available resources. Megalithic or stone,chambered tombs are most common in Scotland and Wales, but are also found in those parts of England with ready access to the large stones and boulders from which they are constructed, especially the Cotswolds, the South-West and Kent. There are around 540 long barrows recorded nationally.
Long barrows of the Lincolnshire Wolds have been identified as a distinct regional grouping of monuments in which the flanking ditches are continued around the ends of the barrow mound, either continuously or broken by a single causeway towards one end. A small number survive as earthworks but the majority are known from crop marks and soil marks where no or very low mounds are evident on the surface. Not all Lincolnshire long barrows had mounds and our current understanding of Neolithic mortuary practices in this part of the country is that the large barrow mound was in fact the final phase of construction which was not reached by all monuments. Previously many of the sites where only the ditched enclosure is known have been interpreted as a barrow where the mound has been degraded or removed by subsequent agricultural activity. In some cases the ditched enclosure (mortuary enclosure) represents a monument which never developed a mound.
The long barrow 720m east of Otby House was fist scheduled in February 1996 based on aerial photographic evidence which showed the ditched enclosure both as crop and soil marks. Geophysical survey was undertaken in October 2017 as part of the current project, this confirmed the form and location of the barrow but also identified associated features to the south and the north. A trial trench excavation followed which confirmed the presence of the enclosing ditch and additional features (described below).
The long barrow's proximity to a number of similar monuments associated with the Otby Beck, and with the prehistoric trackway, now formalised as High Street, is indicative of the ritual significance of the location and poses wider questions concerning communications during the Neolithic period. The frequency of these monuments in this area has wider implications for the study of prehistoric demography and settlement patterns.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: a Neolithic long barrow located 160m above sea level below the summit of a plateau on the western side of the valley of the Otby Beck, 720m east of Otby House.
DESCRIPTION: The long barrow survives as archaeology revealed by cropmarks and soil marks visible on aerial photographs. The feature comprises a roughly oval ditched enclosure, aligned north-west to south-east and measuring approximately 44.5m by 24m. There is no sign of the internal mound, either as cropmarks or as shallow earthworks on digital elevation models; it is likely the mound has been spread or degraded by ploughing. The aerial photographic evidence indicates the enclosure is broken by a causeway to the north-west end and that there is a thickening of the side ditches. This suggests they were recut at least once, an activity which indicates that the monument remained a focus of activity for a long period after it was built.
A geophysical survey undertaken in October 2017 confirmed the barrow as a 'U' shaped enclosure with an opening or entrance on the northern side but in a form which had not previously been identified. The anomaly identified through geophysics at the northern end of the feature is not continuous with the principal encircling ditches. It is possible that the feature is evidence of a facade trench as found in traditional monuments of this type.
The terminals of the barrow ditch, adjacent to the opening at the northern end, contained magnetically enhanced material, prehaps debris accumulated in the use of the monument or a placed deposit of some form. Medieval ridge and furrow was also recorded within the survey area, faint traces of which were recorded over the monument, suggesting the mound had largely been eroded by that time.
A feature forming a circle some 8.3m in diameter was also recorded to the south of the long barrow and although the nature of the feature is unknown, its position in relation to the long axis of the barrow suggests they may be contemporary and form part of the ritual/funerary function of the complex of a later tradition, perhaps a pond barrow given the proximity of a round barrow and ring ditch 250m to the north-east and north-west of the long barrow. A trial trench excavation was undertaken, based on the results of the geophysical survey, and confirmed the presence of enclosing ditches and the circular feature to the south and the entrance feature at the northern end.
The long barrow is one of a large number of similar monuments associated with the Otby Beck and is located around 500m to the west of High Street which originated as a prehistoric trackway.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING: the site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. The scheduling includes a 5m boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
