Project on barrow cemeteries in the upper Rother Valley started

Dr Stuart Needham, an independent researcher, set the wheels in motion for a stage of the project which will probably take the entire of the three years of its duration to complete. He is being assisted by Sabine Stevenson, a post graduate student at the University of Winchester, Chris Healey, an amateur archaeologist, and Scott Chaussée, PHD archaeology researcher from UCL London.

This project includes the evaluation of the other barrow cemeteries in the upper Rother Valley, some more isolated barrows, coupled with very ambitious field walking through the Rother valley between East Meon and Midhurst. The field walking will concentrate on finding flint tools and off-casts from their preparation. The objectives are to further understand the Bronze Age occupation of the river valley, something largely overlooked to date. The side effects will probably help the understanding of the valleys occupation during other periods of time.

The first phase of the project, already well underway, is the detailed examination of the Iping Common barrow cemetery. So far, the work has uncovered anomalies in the Historic and Environmental Record. To assist volunteer field walkers in the recovery of worked flints, a flint identification workshop was held at the Petersfield Museum. New volunteers are welcome to contact the Museum for inclusion on the list of fieldwalkers.