Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 97 (2004), pp. 218-248 
An Archaeological and Environmental Study of the 
Neolithic and Later Prehistoric Landscape of the 
Avon Valley and Durrington Walls Environs 
by Rosamund M.7. Cleal,'! Michael F. Allen’? and Caron Newman?’ 
with contributions from S. Hamilton-Dyer, Phil Harding, Lorraine Mepham, 
Elaine L. Morris, Robert G. Scaife and S.F. Wyles 
Small-scale excavations and a watching brief along the route of a water mains between two reservoirs at Durrington 
Walls and Earl’s Farm Down recorded Neolithic pits and other later prehistoric features to the north of Durrington 
Walls and later prehistoric features on Earl’s Farm Down, including a section excavated through the Earl’s Farm 
Down linear ditch. Other features included a probable Roman burial near Durrington Walls and a ploughed out disc 
barrow. The Avon valley floodplain profile was recorded by an auger transect along the pipeline route where 1t crossed 
the Avon valley. Peat and organic sediments were recorded from which a key pollen sequence for southern England was 
obtained, dating from the Upper Palaeolithic and very Early Mesolithic through to the Roman and medieval periods. 
Wessex Archaeology was commissioned by Wessex 
Water Construction Ltd. to undertake excavations 
and a watching brief during the laying of a water 
mains to the north of Amesbury (SU 1487 4400 to 
SU 1878 4135). The first stage of the project was 
undertaken in the spring and summer of 1991, 
followed by observation of the River Avon crossing 
in autumn 1991. The final section of the pipeline 
was constructed between mid-November and mid- 
December 1991, when a watching brief was 
maintained at the western reservoir site where a 
new water treatment works was constructed. 
TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 
The pipeline route (Figure 1) crosses the rolling 
Upper Chalk downland of the Salisbury Plain north 
of Amesbury. Numerous dendritic dry valleys 
dissect the chalk upland, some of which are mapped 
as containing valley gravel (including Folly 
Bottom), and localised valley bottom colluvium. 
The downland here is bisected by the meandering 
course of the River Avon which is mapped as 
containing valley gravel and alluvium. The 
pipeline route crossed the floodplain alluvium ona 
large meander bend to the east of Durrington Walls. 
The soils are mainly brown rendzinas over the 
Upper Chalk, with typical calcareous brown earths 
mapped within the valley of the River Avon, over 
alluvial and flinty subsoils (Jarvis et al. 1984). 
ARCHAEOLOGICAL 
BACKGROUND 
The pipeline passes through an area of obvious 
archaeological importance (Figure 1). The western 
end of the route passed just 120m to the north of the 
henge monument of Durrington Walls with the 
Packway Iron Age enclosure 50m to the south 
' Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury, Marlborough SN8 1RF ? Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum Park, Salisbury 
SP46EB ? Egerton Lea Consultancy, Room 9, Victoria Hall, Grange over Sands LAI] 6DP 
