224 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
than the former. The presence of a such a cordon, 
which is almost certainly vertical, enables the vessel 
to be assigned to the Durrington Walls sub-style of 
the Grooved Ware tradition (op cit. 240-242). 
Two additional sherds, recovered from pit 184 
(Site 3), are also likely to be Neolithic in date but 
these have no diagnostic characteristics. One is ina 
fine, micaceous clay containing infrequent 
fragments of flint, whilst the other has rounded 
quartz grains and rare pieces of flint and a 
limestone similar to chalk. On the grounds of their 
fabric and general appearance they are almost 
certainly not later Neolithic, but could be earlier 
Neolithic. As the flake analysis of the flint indicates 
a later Neolithic date for the associated flint 
assemblage (Harding below), it is possible that this 
material is residual. 
WORKED FLINT 
by Phil Harding 
The flint contents of the excavated features are 
shown in Table 1. Features 174 and 182 contained 
insufficient material to be informative. 
Raw material and condition 
The flakes and tools were removed from cores made 
of large pieces of good quality flint. It is nodular in 
form with incipient thermal fractures and a thick 
chalky cortex. No fresh exposures of Chalk were 
seen during the installation of the pipe so it was not 
possible to compare the cores with the local flint. 
Wainwright and Longworth (1971, 162) recorded 
seams of flint nodules that were exposed in the 
Durrington Walls ditch. The flint mines located 
70m north of the pipeline (Booth and Stone 1952) 
produced only poor quality flint and are therefore 
unlikely to have provided the raw material. Three 
flakes from feature 184 (Site 3), two of which refit, 
were removed from a nodule of gravel flint that was 
probably obtained from the Avon valley. The 
material is in mint condition and patinated white 
with some pieces heavily coated with calcium 
carbonate concretion. 
Technology 
The material from pit 184 provided the only sample 
of sufficient quantity to be suitable for analysis. 
This was carried out using the system adopted for 
the Stonehenge Environs Project (Harding 1990). 
The analysis shows that flakes were apparently 
removed using soft hammers, probably cortical 
parts of a flint nodule. Butts are generally less than 
5mm across and percussion angles between 70° and 
80°. Most of the flakes are large, only 13% 
measuring less than 30mm long and 7% less than 
20mm wide. Most flakes are squat in shape with 
74% less than 5.5:5 (breadth:length), although 
blades, represented by flakes with length equal to 
twice width, comprise only 12% of the sample. The 
largest flake from the pit exhibited characteristics 
similar to those of Levallois technology (Figure 5, 
1). 
The results of the flake analysis are comparable 
with the Grooved Ware assemblages at Durrington 
Walls (Wainwright and Longworth 1971) and King 
Barrow Ridge (Harding 1990). The similarities are 
particularly apparent in the overall flake shape 
(breadth:length). All three sites contain similar 
proportions of blades (11% Durrington Walls; 15% 
King Barrow Ridge) and flake maximums with 
breadth:length ratios of 4.5:5 (28% Durrington 
Walls; 34% King Barrow Ridge). The most marked 
divergence occurs in overall size, particularly flake 
length, where only 13% of the flakes from the 
Durrington pipeline pits measure less than 30mm. 
None of the assemblages of industrial waste from 
the Stonehenge Environs Project approached this 
proportion. The residue from flint knapping 
usually includes higher proportions of small 
material once the tool blanks have been removed. 
Although the contents of the pit were not sieved, it 
is unlikely that flakes of less than 30 mm would be 
lost during the excavation. It must be assumed, 
Table 1. Worked flint from features in the Durrington Walls environs 
Feature Core Flake Broken Burnt 
flake flake flake 
Pits55 l 6 - 1 6 
Pit 165 3 13 10 3 7) 
Pit 174 - 3 . - - 
Scoop 182 1 - 2 - - 
Pit 184 5 74 44 8 2 
Ditch 186 2 1 - - - 
Total 12 Cy) 56 12 10 
RetouchedScraper Scraper/ Knife/ Chisel Axe Other Total 
knife _ fabricator arrowhead 
1 . - 1 - 18 
: 1 - . - 39 
= : 3 - - 3 
- - 1 - 12 146 
