170 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
However, there was no clear evidence for spatial 
patterning in the disposal of different parts of the 
carcase. 
The cattle assemblage also shows no major bias 
towards any particular areas of the body, although 
most of the metapodials and phalanges were found 
in discrete associated groups and several small 
groups of vertebrae were also discovered. In 
contrast to the assemblage from Hambledon Hill 
(Legge 1981), there is no indication from this small 
sample that cattle skull and mandible fragments are 
under-represented. 
Pigs of under one year to over three years of age 
are represented (tooth eruption and epiphysial 
fusian data archive). A small number of very porous 
bones indicate the presence of foetal or neonatal 
pigs. The samples of cattle and sheep/goat are too 
small to permit comment on mortality rates other 
than that both immature and adult animals are 
represented. 
Most of the 38 fragments which bear butchery 
evidence (archive) consist of fine cuts but in one or 
two cases a heavier implement has produced chop 
marks. Of 12 butchered cattle bones, five humeri 
have cuts associated with the disjointing of the 
distal end from the radius and ulna and one radius 
bears corresponding marks near its proximal end. 
Twelve pig bones also bear butchery marks 
associated either with disjointing or filleting. 
Table 5d summarises the total number of 
identified fragments from the causewayed 
enclosure. Limited numbers of species are 
represented and only domestic cattle, sheep and pig 
were definitely exploited for meat. No goat bones 
have been positively identified, whereas sheep is 
present, in addition to the skeleton found in the 
basal fill of the ditch. Red deer is only represented 
by antlers and their skull attachments. No bones of 
roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) have been identified 
and none of the pig or bovine bones is of a size to 
suggest that wild boar (Sus scrofa) or aurochs (Bos 
primigenius) are represented. 
The lack of wild mammal bones may simply be 
a factor of small sample size. They may also have 
been butchered at the kill site and their bones not 
brought to the causewayed enclosure. Larger 
assemblages from other causewayed camps have 
produced small numbers of deer and other wild 
mammal bones. 
Interpretation of the relative abundance of the 
domestic species is difficult because of the small 
sample sizes, and the presence of associated bones, 
and variations between features. Excluding 
associated bones, cattle and pig are broadly equal in 
the ditch fills with sheep/goat relatively poorly 
represented (Table 5d). Sieved samples from 
interior features, however, indicate that the smaller 
pig bones and teeth are under-represented in 
manually retrieved samples. 
Pit 1303 and recut 1368 contained very high 
percentages of pig (Table 5b). The comparatively 
large proportion of butchery marks suggests that 
most of the pig carcases were processed. Manual 
retrieval from other internal features produced 
small samples that, overall, are not significantly 
different in species representation from the ditch 
assemblage. Combining the total fragment counts 
from normal retrieval and sieving from internal 
features, pig (54%) comfortably outnumbers cattle 
(23%), with red deer (11%) and sheep/goat (10%) 
less common. 
Excavations of other causewayed enclosures 
have produced more bones of cattle than other 
species (Grigson 1981; 1982), for example the 
Hambledon and Stepleton enclosures (Legge 1981), 
Windmill Hill (Jope 1965; Grigson 1965; 1999) and 
Maiden Castle (Armour-Chelu 1991). Several 
suggestions could be put forward to explain why pig 
bones were more abundant in the Whitesheet Hill 
deposits: 
a) The assemblage from Whitesheet Hill is not a 
representative sample from the causewayed enclosure. 
Certainly, the full range of variability is unlikely to 
have been encountered in the small section of ditch 
excavated and the sample could have been biased by 
the unusual concentration of pig bones in pit 1303 
and recut 1368. However, other internal features also 
produced higher percentages of pig bones than 
recorded at other excavated causewayed enclosures. 
b) The sample was too small to give statistically significant 
results. Comparisons were made with the results from 
the primary fills of the enclosure ditches at Windmill 
Hill (Grigson 1965; 1999). The relative abundance of 
cattle, sheep/goat and pig is significantly different 
from those recovered by hand excavation from all 
features at Whitesheet Hill. It is clear that similar 
significant differences also exist between the 
Whitesheet Hill assemblage and from 
Hambledon Hill and Maiden Castle. 
c) Pig bones were better represented because of the sieving 
those 
programme. This can be demonstrated from the 
interior features at Whitesheet Hill but even the 
unsieved samples produced relatively more pig bones 
than the other sites. 
d) Relatively more pigs were exploited at Whitesheet Hill 
