Around four and a half thousand years ago a major change in society and burial practices seems to have taken place. Long barrows and communal burials were abandoned and the emphasis seemed to shift towards individual burial sites. The now familiar round barrows began to appear all along the ridge, and are one of the distinctive features of the Bronze Age. There are several types, including bowl, pond and bell. The barrows were built over a thousand years, roughly from 2600BC to 1600BC. Sometimes the barrows were centred on the earlier long and bank barrows, suggesting that these sites were still important. Many of the barrows were re-used with later burials added to the original one in the centre.
In the early barrows a beaker was often placed with body, and other objects have been discovered, including gold items, diggers and beads. There are several important barrows or groups along the Ridgeway including Clandon Barrow, Bronkham Hill Barrow Cemetery, Winterbourne Poor Lot Barrow Cemetery.
This is one of the most important barrows in the Ridgeway area. A bowl barrow, it was partially excavated in 1882 by Edward Cunnington. He discovered a cremation burial within an urn, a copper dagger, shale mace head, bronze ring and gold plate. The finds are similar to those discovered at Bush Barrow south of Stonehenge. Recent geophysical surveys by Bournemouth University as part of the South Dorset Ridgeway Heritage Project have produced some interesting results. For more information download this short description 'Identifying the Wessex Culture: a geophysical anaylisis of the Clandon aggrandised barrow' 641.73 Kb
An interesting group on top of the ridge, east of Blackdown. A survey by Bournemouth University in 2008 indicates the cemetery may date from the early Bronze Age.
This is an unusual group of barrows situated in a valley bottom. There are at least 44 barrows here, either side of what is now the A35 road. See also the site on the English Heritage website.
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