In this last season on Petersfield Heath, we will be excavating four barrows; Barrow 1, 4, 14 and 19.

 

Yesterday we saw progress on Barrow 19, today we’re delving into Barrow 1.

 

Barrow 1 is the biggest on the Heath and volunteers are in the process of taking out a section, seen in the image here.

 

This trench does not reach to the centre of the barrow – it’s that big!

 

The big question about Barrow 1 is whether it is a bowl or a bell barrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anthony Haskins is leading the work on this barrow in an attempt to answer that question. In the image below you can see a brown line across the centre of the trench which is thought to be the ditch.

 

A number of Mesolithic flints have already been discovered which pre-date the burial mound. At the moment, we suspect these were brought up in the earth used to make the Bronze Age burial mound. More will hopefully be revealed as the dig goes on….

 

 

Tomorrow we catch up with Barrow 4!