Hazleton long barrows

The two Hazleton long barrows are situated on the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire (51°52'07" N, 01°53'45" W), close to the main A40 road, south of Birmingham and west of Oxford. The Hazleton barrows are located to the northwest of Hazleton village, approximately 16 kilometres east of Cheltenham. == Description ==

Hazleton long barrows consist of two separate cairns: Hazleton North Cairn and Hazleton South Cairn. Both cairns are located north of Hazleton village, approximately 250 metres above Ordnance Datum. The bedrock is fine-grained limestone of the Great Oolite Group, dating from the Middle Jurassic. Analysis of samples from the buried land surface on which Hazleton North was constructed showed that it was built in an abandoned arable area where large trees such as beech and oak were scarce. To acquire stone for constructing the cairn, two quarries were used adjacent to the tomb, one to the west and the other to the east. Unlike Hazleton North Cairn that had been fully excavated by the end of the 1982 season, South Cairn remains an intact earthwork that has not been archaeologically investigated apart from two exploratory trenches made across it in 1980. == Archaeological context ==

The Neolithic period marked an era of transformation and had significant impact on human cultures, beliefs and interpersonal relationships. The word "Neolithic" describes the later or polished Stone Age; a period characterized by beautiful weapons and instruments made of flint and other kinds of stone'. The treatment of dead bodies went through fundamental changes. The inhabitants experienced the fundamental transition from a highly mobile hunter-gathering way of life to a more stable, settled living pattern due to the introduction of crops and domesticated animals. Through the archaeological excavation of Hazleton North long barrow, researchers could better identify which attributes of individuals contribute to the inclusion within the ancient tomb and thereby identify leadership during the Neolithic period. == Archaeological excavation of Hazleton North ==

The excavation project was organised by Alan Saville and his team with the support of Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum, running from 1979 to 1982. Hazleton North was excavated in a technique coined by Professor W.F. Grimes, in which the cairn was dismantled in the opposite order of its construction (i.e., reverse stratigraphic order). This sequence of deconstruction allowed researchers to understand the construction methods of such monuments by the Neolithic inhabitants, especially regarding the logical sequence in which 'retaining walls or revetments were used to consolidate the mass of the structure, exploiting to the full the inherent properties of the local Cotswold limestone as a building material'. Overall, the estimated number of burials found in Hazleton long barrows based on archaeological analysis, seems to be 27-30 individuals, evenly distributed in age and sex. These archaeological observations from the excavation of Hazleton North positively support the hypothesis that the Hazleton burials commenced in successive order. Bodies decomposed within the tomb, and skeletal parts were disarticulated and redistributed during the process of further burial practices. It has been established that at least 27 individuals were biologically related successive generations of one single family, and the majority were biologically from the same man who had children with four different women. Analysis has established that genetically unrelated males were adopted into the lineage and buried in the same cairn, suggesting that Neolithic kinship structure also contains blended families. == Architectural construction of Hazleton North==

As the excavation of Hazleton North progressed, the inner structure of the cairn was exposed and several cairn subdivisions were observed, defined by the regular alignments of units within the general stonework-based sections. These alignments of units appeared to develop a specific pattern of rectangle aligned from the north to the south, and the southern part of the cairn was separated by an axial east-west aligned ridge of stones that were pitched against each other. As these units comprised a massive amount of stones and other deposits that were bound by vertical drystone revetment, the excavation method adhered to these revetments, clearing part or all of the internal mass of its fill so that the revetment could be isolated. As shown in the left side figure, the cellular plan of the cairn is displayed and each excavated unit was given alphabetic designations. The architectural system of these cellular units was not the preliminary method of cairn construction, as it started with dumps of material on the original land surface. These dumps were discovered to be made of soil and marl, and they contained three Neolithic sherds, 14 animal bone fragments including pig, sheep and cattle, and 13 pieces of flint, which suggested a subsistence economy trend involving animal husbandry and butchery practices. The research on flints and flint-based tools was mainly carried out by Alan Saville, a lithic specialist. He identified evidence of Mesolithic flint-knapping activities from a hunter's encampment in the buried land surface of the forecourt area of the Neolithic tomb. The Neolithic artefacts within the dumps and the Mesolithic pre-cairn artefact assemblage excavated from the buried soil indicated cultural activities taking place in the area before the formal monument use. == Radiocarbon examination of Hazleton North burial site ==

The excavation of Hazleton North has produced a substantial quantity of stratified materials for further radiocarbon examination done by AMS: Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. However, comparing to other radiocarbon examinations of Cotswold-Severn tombs including Penywrylod mass grave, West Kennet long barrow, Wayland's Smithy barrow, and Ascott-under-Wychwood, the outcome indicated that overall Cotswold-Severn tombs were generally used for a long period of time in terms of burial activities and cairn construction, in contrast to the existing results from the investigations of Hazleton North barrow. Such discrepancy of the duration of barrow use challenged the traditional chronological view of Neolithic barrows, implying certain burial privileges conferred upon members of the community in the Hazleton North barrow. == Post-excavation ==

All finds and site records during the Hazleton barrow excavation were deposited at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester, where they remain available for future archaeological research. Alan Saville and his team also collaborated with the Corinium Museum to establish a public display featuring a reconstructed painting of the Hazleton North inner chambers by John Sibbick, based on on-site photographs and footage. ==See also==