186 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
that the pits are located within the central area, 
away from the ditch and internal bank, and have no 
direct physical relationship with them. An almost 
total absence of burnt material from the ditch fill 
sequence was recorded by these excavations and 
those by Piggott (1952), and indicate that activities 
resulting in the deposition of such material were 
confined to the more central part of the enclosure 
and did not extend as far as the ditch. 
A second, undated, phase of activity is 
indicated by redefinition of the enclosure ditch. 
The upper part of the ditch sequence was clearly 
recut with one rim sherd of Mortlake-style 
Peterborough Ware in its fill. The radiocarbon date 
from animal bone retrieved from the base of the recut 
indicates that the bone is residual. Peterborough 
Ware, however, is not infrequently found in 
secondary contexts at earlier Neolithic monuments, 
including causewayed enclosures such as White- 
hawk Camp, Sussex (Curwen 1936) and Maiden 
Castle (Sharples 1991). Sharples suggests that 
recutting existing ditch circuits and the addition of 
extra ditch circuits in other causewayed enclosures 
may relate to changes in, and redefinition of, the 
function of the site (Sharples 1991, 255). 
Food and Feasting 
The dominance of pig is unusual for causewayed 
enclosures where cattle usually dominate. At 
Hambledon Hill, Dorset, the contemporary 
enclosure of a much larger area by the use of 
outworks and natural steep slopes has been seen as a 
means of controlling herds of cattle for short 
periods of time (Mercer 1980, 60). It has also been 
argued (Edmonds 1993, 113) that the presence of 
cattle at causewayed enclosures is linked to the 
status of the animal, i.e., high status is granted/ 
confirmed by the deposition or consumption at a 
prestigious site. At Whitesheet Hill, although cattle 
are represented in the faunal assemblage, there is no 
indication of any differentiation in the mode of 
deposition of this animal. The high occurrence of 
pig may relate to the observation that most of the 
animal remains are food debris, and there is little 
other activity represented. 
Burning is. clearly evident from the 
preponderance of burnt flints and charred remains 
from the pits. The site of this burning was not 
identified, but at other sites such as Etton, for 
instance, areas of intense and/or repeated burning 
were identified on the buried soil (Challands in 
Pryor 1998, 73-7). The lack of identification at 
Whitesheet Hill may relate to the limited area 
examined, but also to the possibility that no buried 
soil existed or that burning on a former chalkland 
ground surface within the enclosure may have left 
no obvious physical trace. 
Neolithic Hilltop Environment and 
Land-use 
The nature of the landscape context around 
causewayed enclosures, evidence for woodland 
clearance and the scale of any clearance (Thomas 
1977; Evans and Rouse 1991; Bell et a/. in prep.), are 
considered important factors in understanding how 
these monuments operated (Oswald et al. 2001; 
Darvill and Thomas 2001, 16). Even the ubiquitous 
presence of woodland in the Neolithic is now 
questioned (Allen 1997, 278; 2002b). We must 
admit that the evidence for the pre-monument 
environment at Whitesheet is slim. 
The poor molluscan assemblages from the 
primary fills of the ditch indicate the presence of 
shade, possibly open woodland or shady grassland 
and shrubs. We cannot be sure of the nature of those 
shady habitats, there is no possibility of indicating 
the presence, or clearance, of woodland around this 
monument, let alone the scale of clearance and 
proximity of woodland (cf. Bell et a/. in prep.). More 
significant are the coeval assemblages from the pits 
that suggest the present of woodland and leaf-litter. 
We may tentatively propose that the ditch circuit at 
least was cleared of woodland, but the monument as 
a whole was probably located within a more 
extensively cleared area. There are insufficient data 
to hint at woodland regeneration, as seen at a 
number of other sites such as Maiden Castle (Evans 
and Rouse 1991) and the Sussex causewayed 
enclosures (Thomas 1982). By the time of recutting 
of the enclosure ditch in the later Neolithic, tall 
herbaceous vegetation existed, possibly as lightly 
grazed pasture. 
If woodland surrounded the enclosure, it would 
have provided suitable pannage for the pigs that 
formed the major element of the faunal remains 
recovered. 
Archaeological Development of 
Whitesheet Down 
Evidence for Neolithic activity is restricted to the 
enclosure itself and its interior, but may also 
include the undated enclosure to the north (Figures 
