Reasons for Designation
Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.
The Southern Pind Howe round barrow is a good example of the type typically
found on the North Yorkshire Moors. Excavations of round barrows in the region
have shown that they demonstrate a very wide range of burial rites from simple
scatters of cremated material to coffin inhumations and cremations contained
in urns, typically dating to the Bronze Age. A common factor is that barrows
were normally used for more than one burial and that the primary burial was
frequently on or below the original ground surface, often with secondary
burials located within the body of the mound. Most barrows include a small
number of grave goods. These are often small pottery food vessels, but stone,
bone, jet and bronze items have also occasionally been found. Shallow ditches
and/or stone kerbs immediately encircling the mounds are also quite common,
although rarely identifiable without excavation. The southern Pind Howe is
therefore especially important.
Details
The monument includes the buried and earthwork remains of a prehistoric burial
mound located on the south side of a plateau forming the summit of Danby Rigg.
A second barrow, also called Pind Howe, lies on the north side of this
plateau, 180m to the NNW. A third larger barrow known as Wolf Pit lies on a
saddle across the Rigg, 650m to the south. These barrows are the subject of
separate schedulings.
The barrow is intervisible with both Wolf Pit and the northern Pind Howe, with
the two Pind Howes sited on top of the north-south orientated ridge, marking
the northern and southern sides of the summit of the rigg. The southern Pind
Howe is not as high as its northern neighbour, standing to 0.5m, but is more
complex and covers a larger area. It is 10m in diameter and incorporates a
large upright stone 3m north west of the centre of the mound. This stone is at
least 1m long and 0.4m thick and leans towards the centre of the mound
standing 0.6m above the surviving top of the mound. On the western edge of the
mound there are a pair of exposed kerb stones 0.5m to 0.8m across, with
further concealed stones detected around the rest of the mound. Encircling the
mound there is a largely infilled 3m wide ditch, defined on the outer margin
by an intermittent kerbing of more stones, in a 9m radius circle around the
centre of the mound. Three stones are exposed on the western side, with
further stones covered by a thin layer of peat around the rest of the circuit.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
