154 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
Present 
ground 
surface 
outside 
the track 
232.05m0.D 
ray 
Fig. 8 Profiles of features 1303, 1330, 1295, 1291 
the bases of postholes destroyed by pit 1293. This 
was the shallowest feature recorded within the 
enclosure, possibly because of its location 
downslope on the north-east side of the enclosure. 
The fill sequence contained a considerable amount 
of burnt material, almost certainly dumped from 
elsewhere. Artefacts included sherds of earlier 
Neolithic date. 
Feature 1352 (Figure 6) was an irregular 
elongated feature, probably a tree hollow or 
possibly a solution feature. It contained a number 
(between 9 and 13) of clay-filled, steep-sided, 
intercutting solution hollows and possible root 
holes in its eastern end (1297), the deepest of which 
was 0.75m. Occasional large pieces of flint and 
chalk were present in the dark fills along with a 
small quantity of earlier Neolithic pottery. Various 
parts of the feature were labelled as definite features 
(e.g. 1330), but during post-excavation it became 
clear that they were natural solution and root hole 
features. 
A sub-circular feature (1291; Figures 7 and 8) 
with a wider upper part and a central steep-sided 
cut, produced a quantity of very small sherds of 
probable later prehistoric/Romano-British pottery 
which may have been intrusive within the upper 
fills. The remaining features comprised similarly 
disturbed, shallow features and possible postholes. 
Demonstrably Neolithic postholes are rare in 
enclosures, and none have been recorded, for 
example, in the interior at Hambledon Hill (Mercer 
and Healy in prep.). 
Radiocarbon dates (Table 1) 
Six radiocarbon dates were supplied by Janet 
Ambers of the British Museum and the results form 
a coherent group. Three were from the enclosure 
ditch; two from the primary fill (1354) and one 
from the basal fill (1328) of the ditch recut. The two 
determinations from the primary fill, although 
vertically more than 0.3m apart, were statistically 
indistinguishable at the 95% confidence level 
(Ward and Wilson 1978). They give a date for 
construction and the start of infilling of 3710-3380 
cal BC, that is, typical of construction dates for 
other causewayed enclosures in Wessex. 
The results from a slightly gnawed pig scapula 
in the base of the recut gave a result that was older 
than both the result from the fills beneath it, and all 
of the interior pits. The result (BM-2783; 5020+150 
BP) was associated with Peterborough Ware but 
gave a calibrated date of 4150-3350 cal BC which is 
far too early for such an association. The bone 
sample was very small, heavily weathered and 
probably residual. 
