Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T20:50:04.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon dates from the chambered tomb at Hazleton (Glos.): a chronology for neolithic collective burial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Alan Saville ,
John A.J. Gowlett  and
Robert E.M. Hedges
Alan Saville
Affiliation:
Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museums, Clarence Street, Cheltenham GL50 3JT
John A.J. Gowlett
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ
Robert E.M. Hedges
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The social organization of prehistoric British societies has been a busy interest recently, with the hypothesis that the Neolithic was characterized by lineage societies, very likely egalitarian in character, whose dead were placed into communal ‘tombs for the ancestors’. But how secure is the evidence for burial in chambered or unchambered long barrows over many generations? Hazleton provides the key example, for it is the first neolithic burial-site to benefit from the full resources of AMS dating and the new calibration.

Type
Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 61 , Issue 231 , March 1987 , pp. 108 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkinson, R.J.C. 1965. Wayland’s Smithy, Antiquity 39: 126–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, R.J.C. 1968. Old mortality: some aspects of burial and population in neolithic England, in Coles, J.M. and Simpson, D.D.A. (ed.), Studies in ancient Europe: essays presented to Stuart Piggott: 83–93. Leicester: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 1985. Consumption, change and the archaeological record. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Department of Archaeology. Occasional Paper 13.Google Scholar
Britnell, W.J. 1984a. The Gwernvale long cairn, Crickhowell, Brecknock, in Britnell, W.J. & Savory, H.N., Gwernvale and Penywyrlod: two neolithic long cairns in the Black Mountains of Brecknock : 41–154. Cardiff: Cambrian Archaeological Association. Monograph 2.Google Scholar
Britnell, W.J. 1984b. Neolithic long cairns in the Black Mountains: a review of earlier excavation, in Britnell, W.J. & Savory, H.N., Gwernvale and Penywyrlod: two neolithic long cairns in the Black Mountains of Brecknock: 3–9. Cardiff: Cambrian Archaeological Association. Monograph 2.Google Scholar
Brothwell, D. 1972. Palaeodemography and earlier British populations. World Archaeology 4: 75–87.Google Scholar
CBA. 1971–82. Archaeological site index to radiocarbon dates for Great Britain and Ireland. London: CBA.Google Scholar
Clarke, D.V., Cowie, T.G., & Foxon, A.. 1985. Symbols of power at the time of Stonehenge. Edinburgh: HMSO.Google Scholar
Darvill, T.C. 1982. The megalithic chambered tombs of the Cotswold-Severn region. Highworth: Vorda.Google Scholar
de Jong, A.F.M., Becker, B. & Mook, W.G.. 1986. High precision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, 3930–3230 cal BC, in Stuiver, & Kra, 1986: 939–41.Google Scholar
Fraser, D. & Kinnes, I.. 1982. Comments on the archaeodemography of Isbister. Scottish Archaeological Review 1: 144–7.Google Scholar
Gillespie, R., Gowlett, J.A.J., Hall, E.T., Hedges, R.E.M. & Perry, C.. 1985. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 2. Archaeometry 27 (2): 237–46.Google Scholar
Gowlett, J.A.J., Hall, E.T. & Hedges, R.E.M.. 1986a. The date of the West Kennet long barrow. Antiquity 60: 143.Google Scholar
Gowlett, J.A.J., Hall, E.T., Hedges, R.E.M. & Perry, C.. 1986b. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 3. Archaeometry 28 (1): 116–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gowlett, J.A.J., Hedges, R.E.M., Law, I.A., & Perry, C.. 1986c. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry datelist 4. Archaeometry 28 (2): 206–21.Google Scholar
Hedges, J.W. 1983. Isbister, a chambered tomb in Orkney. Oxford: BAR. British Series 115.Google Scholar
Masters, L. 1983. Chambered tombs and non-megalithic barrows in Britain, in Renfrew, C. (ed.), The megalithic monuments of western Europe: 97–112. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Megaw, J.V.S. & Simpson, D.D.A.. 1979. Introduction to British prehistory. Leicester: Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Pearson, G.W., Pilcher, J.R., Baillie, M.G.L., Corbett, D.M. & Qua, F.. 1986. High precision 14C measurements of Irish oaks to show the natural 14C variations from AD 1840–5210 BC, in Stuiver, & Kra, 1986: 911–34.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1954. The neolithic cultures of the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. & Atkinson, R.J.C.. 1986. The date of the West Kennet long barrow. Antiquity 60: 143–4.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1976. Megaliths, territories and populations, in De Laet, S.J. (ed.), Acculturation and continuity in Atlantic Europe: 198–220. Bruges: De Tempel. Dissertationes Archaeologicae Gandenses 16.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. 1979. Investigations in Orkney. London: Society of Antiquaries. Research Report 38.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1984. Preliminary report on the excavation of a Cotswold-Severn tomb at Hazleton, Gloucestershire. Antiquaries Journal 64 (1): 10–24.Google Scholar
Saville, A. 1986. Radiocarbon dating of Hazleton North chambered tomb: a preliminary statement, in Gowlett, J.A.J. and Hedges, R.E.M. (ed.), Archaeological results from accelerator dating. Oxford: Oxford University Committe for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Saville, A. & Selkirk, A.. 1983. Hazleton. Current Archaeology 8 (4): 107–12.Google Scholar
Savory, H.N. 1984. The Penywyrlod long cairn, Talgarth, Brecknock, in Britnell, W.J. & Savory, H.N., Gwernvale and Penywyrlod: two neolithic long cairns in the Black Mountains of Brecknock: 11–39. Cardiff: Cambrian Archaeological Association. Monograph 2.Google Scholar
Sharples, N.M. 1986. Radiocarbon dates from three chambered tombs at Loch Calder, Caithness. Scottish Archaeolical Review 4: 2–10.Google Scholar
Startin, W. & Bradley, R. 1981. Some notes on work organisation in prehistoric Wessex, in Ruggles, C.L.N. and Whittle, A.W.R. (ed.), Astronomy and society in Britain during the period 4000–1500 bc: 289–96. Oxford: BAR. British Series 88.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. & Kra, R.S.. 1986. Radiocarbon calibration issue: proceedings of the Twelfth International Radiocarbon Conference, June 24–28, Trondheim, Norway. Radiocarbon 28 (2B).Google Scholar
Ward, G.K. & Wilson, S.R.. 1978. Procedures for comparing and combining radiocarbon age determinations: a critique. Archaeometry 20 (1): 19–31.Google Scholar