As part of our occasional series of talks on the science which is increasingly involved in archaeology, Dr Alex Bayliss of English Heritage came to speak of the work her team have been doing in employing new techniques to study the early Neolithic in Southern Britain, and to date sites and events by a new system of analysis in which different kinds of evidence are brought together to suggest an overall picture of what happened at the start of this epoque in British history.

The results, as described by Alex, are stunning. This new system of analysis seeks to eliminate improbable or unlikely dates by employing a new kind of synthesis using statistical analysis coupled with every kind of dating evidence a site has to offer, thus compressing former date spreads such as provided by radio carbon dating, hitherto somewhat unreliable and vague, to achieve a peak of probability within a much tighter time band. Adequate sampling of evidence from different strata such as pottery, animal bone and worked flints is necessary together with tree ring and other data where available. Results are impressive and dates in the Neolithic can in some cases be brought down to as little as a decade instead of often over 200 years as hitherto.

So if a long barrow was built say 3695-3690BC, and the last person was buried there in 3630BC, then it was in use only 60 years. The Neolithic enclosure under the Maiden Castle hill fort yields a result of only 15 years in use; that at Abingdon: less than a decade; West Kennet: 15 years; Chalk Hill, Ramsgate: perhaps 70 years; Henbury, Dorset: 150 years. Were these different periods due to the length of a ruling dynasty?
Windmill Hill in Wiltshire, begun 3660, completed by mid-3620, took perhaps 30-35 years to build overall, within a human lifetime. It was in use for some 300 years. In 3625 four long barrows within 50km of each other went out of use at the same time.

The team model the whole of the early Neolithic to establish when it arrived in different parts of the country. Looking at early Neolithic material: pots; sheep/goats; domestic cattle; cereals; lithics: axes, leaf-shaped arrowheads; monuments has produced different start dates in different places. Devon and Cornwall: 3800–3775, with the first enclosure built only 75 years later. The Cotswolds, 4000-3900, the first Neolithic barrow 300 years later. The Neolithic was a violent and energetic time: this same energy perhaps went into the building of monuments. The first Neolithic burial discovered, 4040BC, now lies under the A14 in East London.

Yvonne Masson