By Lauren Platts
Windmill Hill is a causewayed enclosure in Wiltshire and is part of the Avebury complex of sites. A definition of a causewayed site is ‘a type of Neolithic settlement in southern Britain, visible as an oval enclosure surrounded by concentric ditches that are crossed by several causeways’ (Oxford Dictionaries 2015). The site of Windmill Hill was first excavated by H.G.O. Kendall 1922-23 and numerous times after by Alexander Keiller 1925-29, I.F. Smith 1957-58 and finally by A. Whittle in 1990 (Historic England 2011). The hilltop of Windmill Hill was used a long time before the ditches and banks were even constructed and this would have been a long time before the year of 3000 BC (Ross 2015). Windmill Hill is a Neolithic causewayed enclosure with 3 ditches showing some traces of bank (Historic England 2011). The smallest inner ditch showed no trace of a bank, the middle ditch may have some traces of bank and the outer ditch has bank which does partly survive (Historic England 2011). The site contains bell barrows and saucer barrows which still do remain visible in the earthwork (Historic England 2015). When the ditches would have been opened originally there would have been white from all the exposed chalk (Harris 2003). All sorts of materials were deposited in the ditches including, human and animal bones, flint, stone and types of pottery (Harris 2003). The outer ditch contained animal bones, decorated pottery, human remains from burials and antlers (Harris 2003). The middle ditch contained a lot more pottery, dog and cattle bones and some carved chalk (Harris 2003). Finally the inner ditch contained less bones although there were some found in there (Harris 2003).
Windmill Hill. Copyright Google Earth
The size of the site covers the area of 8.45 hectares which makes it one of the largest Neolithic sites in England (Historic England 2011). The site was very important to historians when understanding Neolithic history as it helped in understanding the nature of early farming and the development of pottery styles (Historic England 2011). The type of pottery found at Windmill Hill was the first type of its kind found there and are now named Windmill Hill type pottery (Historic England 2011). The pottery found showed a dramatic change in which the people prepared food (BBC 2015). The people at Windmill Hill were now able to heat liquids in a heat proof container over an open fire for the first time (BBC 2015). Large quantities of animal bones were found at the site indicating feasting, animal trading or rituals conducted by the residents of the site, or even all of the traits (English Heritage 2015a). There is a rectangular enclosure to the east of the site which was used as a mortuary enclosure (English Heritage 2015b). This would be where the human corpses were left to be picked of flesh before the rituals and then the corpses could be taken to a tomb near the site such as West Kennet (English Heritage 2015b). Ceremonial cups were also found at the site which could suggest some kind of ritual or festival celebration (Historic England 2011).
Flint artefacts were found at the site such as arrowheads, axe heads, a sickle blade and scrapers (Historic England 2011). The axes they made are known as tree-felling axes and they had a greater symbolism that what they would have just simply been used for (Historic England 2011). The radiocarbon dating programme places a time frame for the site and it estimates the construction between 3700-3601 cal BC (Historic England 2011). The site took 60 years to build and for 350 years it was used constantly, but after the busy living spell it then declined dramatically, although it was still visited for another 2000 years (Wessex Archaeology 2015). The environment that the people would have lived in at Windmill Hill was surrounded by forest along with wide open fields to plant their crops which would have been things like Emmer Wheat and good for raising animals such as cattle and pigs (British Towns and Villages 2015). As the people at Windmill Hill culture grew and developed the people began to start to have a strong sense of religion in their lives (British Towns and Villages 2015).
H.G.O. Kendall, the first excavator was responsible for creating a large flint collection from the slopes around the site of Windmill Hill (Whittle 2000). Kieller investigated a barrow in 1935 and found an urn and a cremation in a rabbit scrape when he cleaned the ditch in 1937 (National Trust 2015). Keiller also found an ox skull at the site with knife cuts in it that could have been accidental from removing meat from the animal or by later using the skull as using it for ceremonial uses (Wessex Archaeology 2015). Windmill Hill could have been used as a place of living for small groups of people and a place for trading gifts and animals (Wessex Archaeology 2015). Trading would have been used to strengthen relationships in the Neolithic period and with digging the ditches and completing the monument, there would have been a need for a lot of people, so by making stronger relationships they would have been able to create the site (Wessex Archaeology 2015). The site could have also been used for celebrating marriages and having ceremonies for the dead (Wessex Archaeology 2015). Some people suggest that the site was used for defence although the gaps between the banks and ditches would make it hard to defend and others suggest it could have been used as a place where dead bodies would have been placed before burial (Wessex Archaeology 2015). Although now historians and archaeologists agree it was a site that was used in Neolithic times for meetings (Wessex Archaeology 2015). After the initial usage of the site spreading the largest span of time the site was then used again in the Bronze Age. The hill summit was used in the Bronze Age as a cemetery (Ross 2015). The site is now owned by the National Trust and is in the guardianship of the English Heritage to make sure there is good preservation of the site and it is able to remain in the condition it stands in currently (English Heritage 2015a). It is important that it is preserved to be able to see what life was like back in the Neolithic and Bronze Age.
Bibliography:
BBC 2015. Windmill Hill Pot. Available online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/z20-7CPoR0WjSZjL0x2afg [accessed on 12/11/15]
British Towns and Villages Network 2015. The Neolithic people – The Windmill Hill people and the henge builders. Available online: www.British-town.net/britian/history/neolithic [accessed on 6/11/15]
English Heritage 2015a. Windmill Hill, Avebury. Available online: www.englishheritage.org.uk/visit/places/windmill-hill/ [accessed on 5/11/15]
Harris, O. 2003. Performative practice: identity and agency at the causewayed enclosures of Windmill Hill and Etton. Cardiff University MA Thesis Dissertation.
Historic England 2015b. Bowl barrow 200m east of Windmill Hill: Part of the Windmill Hill round barrow cemetery. Available online: www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1008446 [accessed on 5/11/15]
Historic England 2011. Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure. Available online: http://pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=216413 [accessed on 5/11/15]
National Trust 2015. Bronze Age bell barrow on Windmill Hill, Avebury. Available online: www.Archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/browser.jsf [accessed on 6/11/15]
Ross. D. 2015. Windmill Hill. Available online: http://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=46 [accessed 12/11/15]
Oxford Dictionaries 2015. Causewayed camps. Available online: www.oxforddictionaries.com/defintion/english/causewayed-camp [Accessed on 12/11/15]
Wessex Archaeology 2015. Windmill Hill information for teachers. Available online: www.wessexarch.co.uk/files/Learning/avebury_teachers_kit/information_sheet_for_windmill_hill.pdf [accessed on 11/11/15]
Whittle. A. 2000. Neolithic activity and occupation outside Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, Wiltshire: Survey and excavation 1992-93. The Wiltshire Archaeological and natural history magazine. 93: 131-181.
Archaeology@Hull 