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Neolithic Pottery and other Remains from Pangbourne, Berks., and Caversham, Oxon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2013

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Extract

In the present state of our knowledge of the Neolithic period in England, and especially as regards its pottery, any light that can be thrown upon it is welcome, and it is on that account that I have brought before the Society a report on two discoveries of Neolithic remains: at Pangbourne, Berks., and Caversham, Oxon.

It is greatly to be regretted that owing to the circumstances of the discovery accurate observations could not be made. In May, 1928, workmen were engaged in levelling ground to make a tennis court, at “Farmhili,” Courtlands Hill, Pangbourne, and in doing so came upon, and, as is unhappily so often the case, disturbed and partly smashed a human skeleton, other animal bones, of which a few only survive, and a large bowl of coarse pottery, definitely of Neolithic type. It would seem that when found the bowl was imore or less complete, but Mr. G. W. Smith, of Reading, who visited the spot the day after the discovery, was only able to find about two-thirds of the vessel, in fragments, on the rubbish heaps of excavated material. These fragments, together with the other remains, were presented by the owner of the land, Lt.-Com. W. S. Macilwaine, R.N., to the Reading Museum, where the writer had the opportunity of examining them.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1929

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References

page 30 note 1 6″ O.S. Sheet, Berks. 28 S.E.

page 30 note 2 Leeds, E. T.— “A Neolithic Site at Abingdon”. Antiq. Journ. Vol. VII p. 452Google Scholar, Fig. 6, No. 13.

page 30 note 3 Crawford, O. G. S.Long Barrows of the Cotswolds p. 128Google Scholar. Cf; also the bowl from Chelm's Combe, Cheddar—Excavations at Chelm's Combe Fig. viii., and also Hill, Knap, Wilts. Arch. Mag. Vol. XXXVII.Google Scholar, Fig. 14.

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page 31 note 1 Antiquity, Vol. I p. 284Google Scholar.

page 31 note 2 Arch. XLII, p. 195Google Scholar Fig. 4.

page 31 note 3 Preliminary excavations in the Neolithic camp here were made by Dr. E. Cecil Curwen in August 1928, and are published in Sussex Arch. Coll., Vol. LXX (1929)Google Scholar.

page 31 note 4 and

page 31 note 5 For references see Leeds loc. cit. p. 452.

page 31 note 6 Trans. Devon Assoc., Vol. XXVIII pp. 174199Google Scholar, with nine plates.

page 31 note 7 Cf. the decoration on the Pole's Wood bowl (supra p. n.3,) and on the Chelm's Combe bowl (loc. cit. Fig. ix), also Abingdon, and Knap Hill (loc. cit. Fig. 14).

page 31 note 8 If a clay pot be baked in an open wood fire, that part covered by the ashes (i.e. the lower part when baking) bakes blackish in colour while the upper part, to which the air has freer access, is burnt red. The black can be burnt off by refiring in the presence of air. See Cunnington, M. E., All Cannings Cross pp. 3031Google Scholar and ref., also Antiquity Vol. II p. 396Google Scholar n.

page 31 note 9 Cunnington, M. E., The Pottery from … West Kennett (1927) pp. 46Google Scholar.

page 31 note 10 As also at Caversham, Cissbury, Grimes Graves, Chelm's Combe and Knap Hill.

page 32 note 1 Pitt-Rivers', Excavations III. 135Google Scholar.

page 32 note 2 Deer antler picks have also been found in Bronze Age associations. For the question of the dating of antler picks see Holmes, Rice, Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Cæsar, p. 471Google Scholar.

page 33 note 1 Mortimer, , Forty Years Researches, pp. 2342Google Scholar, Figs. 45–66.

page 33 note 2 I am indebted to Mrs. M. E. Cunnington for this information.

page 33 note 3 Leeds, loc. cit. p. 452, Fig. 6, nos. 2 and 26.

page 35 note 1 Loc. cit. Fig. vi.

page 35 note 2 For notes on horizontal lugs, see p. 29 supra.

page 35 note 3 Leeds, loc. cit. Pl. LIII. Fig. 2 and Fig.7; 2nd Report, in Antiq. Journ. Vol. VIII.Google Scholar, Pl. LXXIV., Fig. 1c.

page 35 note 4 See supra p. 30.

page 35 note 5 Loc. cit. Fig. viii.

page 35 note 6 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., Vol. XXXVI. Figs. 34, 10 and 17.

page 35 note 7 Antiquity Vol. III. (1929) pp. 283291Google Scholar.

page 37 note 1 As for instance at Peterborough, West Kennet, Mortlake and Chelm's Combe.

page 37 note 2 M. E. Cunnington, The Pottery from West Kennet. Nos. 43 and (possibly) 64.

page 37 note 3 Second Report, Pl.LXXIV., Fig 2 h.

page 37 note 4 Arch. Vol. LXII. p. 333Google Scholar.

page 37 note 5 Excavations, Vol. IV., Pl. 261 No. 16.

page 37 note 6 Wheeler, R. E. M., Prehistoric and Roman Wales p. 132Google Scholar and Fig. 38.

page 37 note 7 In the Ashmolean Museum. Proc. Soc. Antiq., 1st. Series Vol. IV. p. 97Google Scholar.

page 39 note 1 Arch. Vol. LXII Pl. XXVVIII, 2–3; Antiq. Journ. Vol. IV. p. 127Google Scholar.

page 39 note 2 Leeds, E. T..—Early Settlement in the Upper Thames, in Geography, Autumn 1928Google Scholar.