NEOLITHIC AND LATER PREHISTORIC LANDSCAPE OF THE AVON VALLEY 227 
Table 2. Animal bone from features in the Durington Walls Environs 
Feature Context Cattle Red deer Pig 
Pit 155 156 11 - Z 
Pit 165 166 2 - 2 
Pit 174 175 - 1 - 
Pit 184 185 1 2 42 
Total 14 3 46 
% 17.4% 3.7% 57.4% 
Ditch 186 187 (scanned)- - = 
Horse Unidentified Beaver Total 
mammal 
- 9 - 20 
5 1 8 
- 1 - 2 
- 5 - 50 
0 16 1 80 
0 20% 1.3% 100 
1 . - 1 
one animal of approximately six months and two 
between 12 and 18 months (Bull and Payne 1982). 
Of the tibia fragments, two (not a pair) had unfused 
distal epiphyses, also indicating animals under two 
years at time of slaughter. The fragments are biased 
towards head and hind legs. This is slightly offset 
by the fragmentation of the jaws and maxillae and 
the presence of some of the foot bones (11 fragments 
are probably from the same leg). There are, 
however, no fragments of scapula or foreleg perhaps 
indicating a deliberate deposition of mostly head 
and lower leg joints. Although not the prime meat 
joints, the head and feet of the pig are not 
necessarily regarded as waste, as they often are for 
sheep and cattle. The female jaw had been axially 
chopped, a common butchery practice. Other pig 
fragments were one acetabulum and two vertebrae. 
Four rib fragments of a medium sized mammal and 
a small fragment of skull are probably also of pig. 
The smaller bones are underrepresented, only three 
phalanges compared with nine metapodi and three 
calcanae were present. If three feet are represented, 
12 metapodi and 36 phalanges would be expected. 
This loss may be due to both recovery methods and 
preservation. 
Only one cattle bone was identified, a portion of 
chopped rib. Two fragments of red deer were 
present, one of which was a poorly preserved 
metatarsal shaft. The other was part of a shed antler, 
probably a discarded pick. The preservation is not 
good enough to show presence or absence of wear in 
use. The main beam is broken below the crown, just 
above the trez tine. Only one brow tine arises from 
“the base of the beam, whereas two are a 
characteristic of the species. The single tine variant 
is sometimes present in British red deer stocks 
today (Staines 1991). This occurrence implies the 
ancient origins of this presumably genetic 
variation. The presence of the burr at the base of the 
beam indicates this antler was collected after the 
stag had shed its antlers. Many antler picks, often 
shed ones, were found in the excavations at 
Durrington Walls, as at many other Neolithic 
monuments, where they were used to dig the pits 
and ditches (Harcourt 1971) and were frequently 
deliberately deposited (cf. Wainwright and 
Longworth 1971; Sargeantson and Gardiner 1995). 
Pit 174 contained a proximal portion of a red 
deer metatarsus and a small fragment of mammal 
rib. The other three pits, 155, 165, and 184, all 
contained pig and cattle bones. No sheep or goat 
bones were identified. Pit 155 contained at least 
four cattle individuals. These varied from calf to 
probably fully grown. The assemblage did not 
represent the disposal of just feet, as fragments of 
femur, ulna, scapula, vertebra and a tooth were also 
present. Two pig scapulae, probably a pair, were also 
present and perhaps represent a_ deliberate 
deposition rather than disposal of waste. 
Only eight bones were recovered from small 
shallow pit 165 (Figure 3). These were fragments of 
a pig maxilla and a deciduous lower incisor, a cattle 
radius and frontal and two unidentified fragments 
of cattle size. The remaining fragment was the 
lower right incisor and fragment of jaw of a beaver, 
Castor fiber. This species has been recorded from 
several local Neolithic sites, including Durrington 
Walls (Harcourt 1971) and the Coneybury Anomaly 
(Maltby 1990), and their significance has been 
outlined by Coles (1992). This might suggest a 
significant population of beaver in the Avon valley 
during the Neolithic. 
Discussion 
Although the fragment numbers are extremely 
small, pit 184 contains mostly pig bones. Late 
Neolithic deposits, especially those associated with 
Grooved Ware, often have a high proportion of pig 
in the animal remains when compared with cattle 
and sheep (Harcourt 1971; Legge 1991). Many of 
these deposits appear to have a ritual element and 
are selective so do not accurately reflect the 
