NORMANTON DOWN BARROWS
This barrow cemetery lies to the south of Stonehenge. It contains Bronze Age round barrows of several types, as well as an earlier Neolithic long barrow and an oval barrow. There is a clear line of sight from these barrows to Stonehenge, about a kilometre (0.5 miles) away to the north.
BURIAL RITES IN THE EARLY NEOLITHIC PERIOD
The earliest ritual use of this site is most likely to have been the construction of the two small long barrows, some time between 3650 and 3400 BC. Nearby to one of them and dating from roughly the same time is a rectangular ditched enclosure, known as the Normanton Down mortuary enclosure.
This enclosure, defined by a discontinuous ditch with an internal bank, was excavated in 1959 by Faith de Mallet Vatcher and antlers from the ditch have been dated to 3500-2900 BC.
It was originally identified as a 'mortuary enclosure', an area for exposing corpses to be cleaned of flesh in a process known as 'excarnation', before the bones were placed in the chamber of a long barrow. However, no human bones have been found here and it is perhaps an open-air gathering place for ceremonies.
A PLACE OF HIGH STATUS
The Normanton Down barrow cemetery is famous for the rich and varied burial objects found within some of the barrows. Most were excavated by Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington at the turn of the 19th century.
Perhaps their most famous discovery was in 1808; the richly furnished Bush Barrow burial. This is the one of the richest and most important examples of an early Bronze Age burial in Britain. Two adjacent barrows nearby contained similarly lavish objects and this may indicate a family group.
The cemetery has an unusually high number of disc barrows, eight in all, as well as several bell barrows. The range and richness of grave goods placed in these barrows and their location, within clear sight of Stonehenge, suggests that it was a burial ground for important people.
