Staff Profile Pages

Wor Barrow, Cranborne Chase, Dorset: Chronological Modelling

Authors: Smith, M., Allen, M.J., Jay, M., Montgomery, J., Bronk Ramsey, C., Cook, G. and Marshall, P.

Publisher: Historic England

Place of Publication: Portsmouth

ISSN: 2059-4453

Abstract:

Wor Barrow is a well-known Neolithic ‘long’ barrow in Cranborne Chase, excavated in 1893–4 by General Pitt Rivers, and first radiocarbon-dated by Richard Bradley.Excavations were exceptionally well recorded and published by Pitt Rivers in 1898. Many of the key artefacts were kept and are still curated at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum, and are available for study along with the surviving original field notebooks. The excavation itself was iconic, but the barrow’s general plan and form have been discussed much more than the funerary element. As an oval barrow it is traditionally thought to fall late within the currency of long barrows. This report examines the chronology, human remains, mortuary processes and development of the barrow in the Neolithic period.

Source: Manual