Neolithic long barrow 350m south-west of Sycamore Farm

Summary

Neolithic long barrow 350m south west of Sycamore Farm.

Reasons for Designation

The Neolithic long barrow 350m south-west of Sycamore Farm is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: the long barrow has been confirmed to survive as buried remains by aerial photography as a clearly defined crop mark;

* Potential: for the buried archaeological 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 insight into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric communities in this country:

* Group value: the long barrow is considered to belong to a group of similar monuments, both simple and elaborated, which are focussed on the Waithe Beck and its tributaries.

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 un-chambered, 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 barrow 350m south-west of Sycamore Farm was first scheduled in April 1999. It was mapped from cropmarks and soilmarks as a rectilinear ditched enclosure aligned north-west to south-east. Air photograph interpretation as part of the Lincolnshire Long Barrows project suggests that the mound appears to have been ploughed down so that it extends beyond the footprint of the ditch, at least across its width if not the length. The mound is still visible (2019) to the naked eye as a low earthwork.

Details

Principal elements: a Neolithic long barrow aligned north-west by south-east defined by a roughly rectilinear enclosure ditch with an internal mound. The barrow is located on the crest of a north-facing slope at a height of 110m AOD, at the head of a dry valley and south-east of a tributary of the Waithe Beck.

Description: the long barrow is visible as cropmarks, soil marks and earthworks on aerial photographs. It is defined by a roughly rectangular enclosure ditch with maximum dimensions measuring 47.7m by 22.5m with an internal mound which is visible as a low earthwork on the ground surface. The mound has been ploughed down and is now broader than the footprint of the barrow enclosure.

The internal area is recorded as containing a circular feature about 8m in diameter, situated towards the south eastern end. This location suggests that the feature probably represents the main burial site and focus of ritual activity. Investigations at similar sites elsewhere in the region indicate that other features, including pits and postholes, are likely to be preserved beneath the present ground surface.

The long barrow is considered to belong to a group of similar monuments, both simple and elaborated, which are focussed on the Waithe Beck and its tributaries.

Valuable archaeological deposits will be preserved in the mound material, on the buried ground surface beneath the mound and in the fills of the ditch. These have potential to provide rare information concerning the dating and construction of the monument and the sequence of mortuary practices at the site. The same deposits will also retain environmental evidence illustrating the nature of the landscape in which the monument was set.

Extent of scheduling: The scheduled area is marked on the attached map and includes a 5m buffer zone around the barrow which is considered necessary for the support and preservation of the monument. There are no exclusions from the scheduling.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

29746

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Field, D, Earthen Long Barrows, The Earliest Monuments in the British Isles, (2006)
Woodward, A, British Barrows A Matter of Life and Death, (2000)
Last, J, Beyond the Grave, New Perspectives on Barrows, (2007)
Jones, D, Long Barrows and Neolithic Elongated Enclosures in Lincolnshire: An analysis of the Air Photoographic Evidence in Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Vol. 64, (1998), 83-114

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