Английская Википедия:Asthall barrow
Asthall barrow is a high-status Anglo-Saxon burial mound from the seventh century AD. It is located in Asthall, Oxfordshire, and was excavated in 1923 and 1924.
Location
Asthall barrow is located along the strip of the A40 connecting the towns of Witney and Burford; it is immediately north of the A40 where it connects to Burford road, and just south of the byroad leading off Burford to Asthall and Swinbrook.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The barrow is prominently located.Шаблон:Sfn It sits by Akeman Street where the Roman road crossed the River Windrush, the site of a onetime Roman settlement.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn It has expansive views, and overlooks the Thames Valley from Lechlade to Wytham Hill.Шаблон:Sfn To the north it looks out at Leafield barrow; to the south appears Faringdon Hill and beyond it the Berkshire Downs at White Horse Hill, while to the southeast Sinodun Hill near Dorchester appears, with the Chilterns in the distance.Шаблон:Sfn The barrow gives its name to surrounding structures, such as Barrow Plaintation, Barrow Farmhouse, and Asthall Barrow Roundabout.Шаблон:Sfn
Architecture
The barrow stands Шаблон:Convert high, and is about Шаблон:Convert in diameter.Шаблон:Sfn It was recorded as Шаблон:Convert high around 1907,Шаблон:Sfn but, in 1923, as Шаблон:Convert high.Шаблон:Sfn It is surrounded by a Шаблон:Convert high dry stone retaining wall.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Once covered in trees including beeches and firs, likely planted in the nineteenth century,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn the barrow is now topped by a single, prominent, sycamore; the remaining growth was removed during conservation work in 2017 or 2018.Шаблон:Sfn The presence of Romano–British grey wares in the barrow's soil, like the downward sloping surrounding land, suggests that the barrow may have been constructed by scraping up the surrounding topsoil.Шаблон:Sfn The land around the barrow is cultivated up to its edges, and in 1992 was planted with barley crops.Шаблон:Sfn
Originally the barrow probably stood larger; in 1923 an elliptical section surrounding the southwest circumference was recorded as approximately Шаблон:Convert higher than the field, suggesting that it was once a part of the barrow.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn That the barrow's finds were not in the centre of its present dimensions also suggests that its original dimensions were somewhat different.Шаблон:Sfn Slippage of the barrow's soil may also help explain the changed dimensions, and the recorded reduction in height over time.Шаблон:Sfn
Excavation
The barrow was excavated in August 1923, and again in 1924, by George Bowles, the brother in law of the second Baron Redesdale, who owned the land.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Permission to excavate had been unsuccessfully sought in 1872, on behalf of George Rolleston.Шаблон:Sfn The 1923 excavation was overseen by Bowles, although actually carried out by a Tom Arnold and five helpers.Шаблон:Sfn Bowles was also aided by Edward Thurlow Leeds, then assistant keeper at the University of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum; Leeds offered suggestions, visited the site, and published the main discoveries.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He published the 1923 excavation along with an excavation plot by Bowls in The Antiquaries Journal in April 1924, and briefly discussed the 1924 excavation 15 years later in a chapter of A History of Oxfordshire.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Both excavations are also plotted, probably by Leeds, on a piece of blue linen held by the Ashmolean.Шаблон:Sfn
Bowles dug an irregular, seven-cornered polygonal trench in 1923, and in 1924 added a rectangular trench to its side, along with four 18-inch-square trenches in the area of the raised surrounding soil.Шаблон:Sfn He began by sinking a shaft 12 feet square and 12 feet deep; to this he added several subsequent extensions, each to the level of the field or below.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He labeled the corners A–H on his plot, omitting the F.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Bowles determined the barrow to be undisturbed and to consist of earth mixed with stones, along with the occasional sherd of Romano–British pottery.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Refn The surface level was coated in yellowish clay, perhaps brought up from the River Windrush nearby.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn This faded away toward corner B, Bowles noted, but was prevalent around corner G, the southern limit of the excavation.Шаблон:Sfn Atop the clay Bowles found an abundance of charcoal and ashes, six inches thick in places (such as at point V on his plot), and forming only a thin covering elsewhere.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Bowles also recorded a large charred timber, between points G and H.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Grave goods
The barrow contained a large assemblage of items, of a quality indicating the high-status nature of the burial.Шаблон:Sfn There were at least seven vessels: three pottery, two hand-made jars, a Merovingian bottle, and a small silver bowl or cup.Шаблон:Sfn Fragments of foil, five of which were stamped with zoomorphic interlace patterns, suggest the burial of a decorated drinking horn, and a pear-shaped mount was both patterned and gilded.Шаблон:Sfn Other items appear to have been made of bone, and were likely pieces from a gaming set.Шаблон:Sfn The finds were donated to the Ashmolean, where they were given the accession numbers 1923.769–782, and 1949.297.Шаблон:Sfn
Accession | Image | Category | Description | Material | Dimensions | Notes | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1923.769 | Black and white photograph of a reconstructed bottle | Vessel | Merovingian wheel-made bottle | Pottery | 247mm (h); 168mm (d) | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn | |
1923.770 | Black and white line drawing of a hand-made pot | Vessel | Hand-made pot | 125mm (h); 110mm (d) | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn | ||
1923.771 | Black and white line drawing of a hand-made pot | Vessel | Hand-made pot | 115mm (h); 127mm (d) | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn | ||
1923.778 | Vessel | Bowl or cup | Silver | 13+ heavily oxidised fragments, including rim and body pieces | |||
1923.776 | Black and white photograph of a hinge-loop from a Byzantine bowl | Vessel | Byzantine bowl | Cast copper alloy | 4+ fragments, including rim, hinge-loop, and foot-ring | Шаблон:Sfn | |
1923.779 | Black and white photograph of a body fragment from a bowl or cauldron | Vessel | Bowl or cauldron | Copper alloy | Unburnt sheet-metal body fragment; rim fragment from same or similar vessel | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn | |
1923.779 | Vessel | Fittings for drinking horn(s), bottle(s), or cup(s) | Copper alloy | Sheet metal including repoussé foils decorated in Salin Style II and/or with billeted border, fluted binding strips with dome-headed rivets and U-sectioned rim-edge bindings | |||
1923.779 | Vessel | Vessel | Copper alloy | 3–3.5mm (d) | Several fragments of sheet metal with one edge rolled into a narrow tube | ||
1923.774 | Black and white photograph of a strap end | Strap fittings | Strap end | Cast copper alloy | 41mm (l); 19mm (w) | Mineralized textile on back | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn |
1923.775 | Strap fittings | Looped strap tab | Cast copper alloy | 35mm (l); 11mm (w); 13mm (d) | |||
1923.777 | Black and white photograph of a hinged strap attachment | Strap fittings | Hinged strap attachment | Cast copper alloy | 22mm (l); 14.5mm (w) | Includes iron hinge-pin | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn |
1923.779 | Strap fittings | Looped strap mount | Cast copper alloy | 12.5mm (l); 13mm (w) | Шаблон:Sfn | ||
1923.775 | Black and white photograph of an openwork swivel suspension fitting | Strap fittings | Openwork swivel suspension fitting | Cast copper alloy | Openwork cuboid, 12.5mm (l), 9mm (w); swivel loop, 20mm (l); looped strap tab, 19.5mm (l), 6mm (w) | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn | |
1923.779 | Strap fittings | Disc-headed rivets | 8mm (d); 5mm (l) | 3 fragments. Heads decorated with concentric rings | Шаблон:Sfn | ||
1923.773 | Black and white photograph of a pear-shaped mount | Strap fittings | Pear-shaped mount | Cast copper alloy; gilt | 47mm (l) (reconstructed) | Salin Style II on front; two cast-in-one disc-ended rivets on back | Шаблон:Sfn |
1923.782 | Gaming set | Counters | Bone | 30mm (d); 4mm (h) | 26 fragments, plano-convex | ||
1949.297 | Gaming set | Die | Antler | 14mm cube | |||
1923.779 | Unassignable items | Rectangular-headed rivet | Silver | Head, 6.7mm (l), 5mm (w); shank, 7mm (l) | |||
1923.779 | Unassignable items | Disc | Silver | 17mm (d); 4.3mm (th) | Bevelled edge | ||
1923.779 | Black and white photograph of a strap mount | Unassignable items | "Silver" strap mount | Copper alloy | 19mm (l) (extant); 6mm (w) | Cast. Two rivets on back corroded green; front gray. | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn |
1923.779 | Black and white photograph of a crescentic stud | Unassignable items | Two crescentic studs | Copper alloy | 15mm (d) | Decorated with punched triangles. Rivet on back. | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn |
1923.779 | Black and white photograph of a sunken-field stud | Unassignable items | Sunken-field stud | Copper alloy | 10.5mm (d); 2.5mm (h); shank 8mm (l) | Cast. Dome-headed rivet passes through centre of sunken field and bent flat on underside. | Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn |
1923.779 | Unassignable items | Disc-headed rivet | Copper alloy | 6.5mm (d); shank 5.5mm (l) (extant) | Plain | ||
1923.779 | Unassignable items | Dome-headed rivet pin | Copper alloy | 3.3mm (d); 9.5mm (l); shank 8.5mm (l) | |||
1923.779 | Unassignable items | Relief-decorated disc or ring | Copper alloy | 15mm (l); 14mm (w) | Cast. Fragment with thickened edge and hint of curvature. Northed ridge border and Salin Style I zoomorphic field. | ||
1923.779 | Unassignable items | Plain disc | Copper alloy | 23mm (d) | Plain. | ||
1923.779 | Unassignable items | Unidentified fragments | Copper alloy | Constitutes the majority of the material catalogued under 1923.779. Includes sandwiched foil fragments, pieces covered with/incorporating corrosion products, charcoal and soil, generally thicker than the foils, and globules of melted metal. May come from the copper-alloy vessels or unassignable items. | |||
1923.779 | Unassignable items | "Nails" | Iron | 11.5–22mm (l) | 4 fragments | ||
1923.780 | Unassignable items | Inlays? | Iron | 4–5mm, 15mm (w) | 55 fragments with flat rectangular or slightly plano-convex section, most with plain outer surface and grooved or cross-grooved inner surface, some also with grooved outer surface, and two with cross-hatched edges | ||
1923.781 | Unassignable items | "Rods" | Iron | 46mm (l) (max); 6.5mm (d) (max) | 11 fragments, slightly curved and tapered | ||
n/a | Cremated bone | Four finger bones; fragments of jaw; roots of canine and lower molar | Human bone | ||||
n/a | Cremated bone | Left tibia; right lateral cuneiform; sesamoid; likely metatarsal | horse bone | ||||
n/a | Cremated bone | Astragalus; possible tail vertebrae; skull fragments | sheep bone | ||||
1923.772 | From barrow make-up | Romano–British pottery sherds | Worn residual material | Шаблон:Sfn |
Conservation
The Asthall barrow was designated a scheduled monument on 16 May 1934.Шаблон:Sfn Historic England, which maintains the list of such monuments, noted that the barrow "is one of the best preserved examples of a type of burial mound of which there are about ten examples in West Oxfordshire", and that "[d]espite partial excavation and recent animal burrowing it will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction and the landscape in which it was built."Шаблон:Sfn Historic England added that the "survival of part of its original drystone retaining wall is an unusual feature", but that regardless, "[a]s a rare monument class all positively identified examples are considered worthy of preservation."Шаблон:Sfn
In 2009, the barrow was added to Historic England's "Heritage At Risk Register", a project intended to identify and protect historic sites threatened by neglect, decay, or development.Шаблон:Sfn The 2009 list was the first to include scheduled monuments that are archaeological sites; previous iterations had included only listed buildings, structural scheduled monuments, registered battlefields, and protected wreck sites.Шаблон:Sfn The barrow remained on the at-risk register through 2017.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn From 2009 to 2014, its condition was described as "declining" with "generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems," and its principal vulnerability was given as scrub and tree growth.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Its principal vulnerability was changed to collapse by 2015,Шаблон:Sfn although by 2016 its condition was upgraded to "improving."Шаблон:Sfn In 2017, the barrow's final year on the register, its principal vulnerability was given as extensive rabbit burrowing.Шаблон:Sfn The barrow was listed as "saved" and removed from the register the following year, following removal of trees and scrub, and work to exclude rabbits; the large sycamore tree atop the barrow was left in place.Шаблон:Sfn The work was done in partnership with the owners, and voluntary wardens from the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.Шаблон:Sfn
Notes
References
Bibliography
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