what is known

The mounds, whose age does not exceed 4,400 years, are 16 kilometers from Stonehenge. It is more than 20 circular mounds built between 2400 and 1500 BC on a chalk slope near Harnham on the outskirts of Salisbury in southwest England.

Other than the proximity of the sites, there is no evidence that the cemetery is associated with the famous monument. But the mounds were built around the same time as some of Stonehenge’s central scenes.

Most of the mounds were built between 4,400 and 3,500 years ago in the Bronze Age, but archaeologists believe the oldest mound may be even older / Photo: Cotswold Archeology

The newly discovered mounds vary in size: the smallest is around 10 meters and the largest 50 meters. But most mounds are 20 to 30 meters wide. He hid many tombs, each arranged in a circle. After arriving at the site in 2022, archaeologists completely excavated five mounds at two sites. One of them remained undetected for a while, as it was covered with loose earth washed from the high ground.

Ancient Burial / Photograph: Cotswold Archeology

Ancient Burial / Photograph: Cotswold Archeology

One of the mounds was originally surrounded by an oval-shaped moat and was replaced by another, almost circular, even in the prehistoric period. This suggests that this mound may have been built earlier than the others, during the Neolithic period, which ended around 2400 BC. A mass grave near its center contained the remains of adults and children.

Adjacent to the ditch was a pit containing fallow deer (Cervus elaphus) antlers, which were highly prized for making Neolithic tools, ritual artifacts, and small objects such as pins and combs.

Antler cache / Photo: Cotswold Archeology

more graves

Archaeologists have uncovered nine other burial remains and three artifacts from the tombs between the mounds. In some cases, the burials contained clay “beakers” – the characteristic round drinking vessels – suggesting that the people buried in them belonged to the Bronze Age “Bell-Cup Culture” prevalent in Britain after 2450 BC.

The Cotswold Archeology team also found evidence of a later Iron Age human presence here and traces of a Saxon building (5th to 11th century AD).

An arrowhead made of flint in the Neolithic Age / Photograph: Cotswold Archeology