011AC00035

Grave Overhead view of fully excavated skeleton


 
Grave Details
Length 78 Width 47 Depth 19 Ratio 1.66:1 Elevation 6000
Skeletal Details 
Length 69 Width 34 Depth 19 Period Unassigned
Age Adolescent  Sex Unknown  Position Crouched Bearing 111.8 degrees
Material Culture Human Bone  18 Number of Objects 1 Number of Animal Bones 0 
Environmental 

Discussion

The grave was discovered after an attempt to clean up the crumbly chalk surface by using a tractor powered brush, when some fragmentary bone protruding through to the surface was first noticed. The grave fill consisted of 60% pink crumbly chalk intermixed with pockets of silty loam, and was only slightly different from the surrounding pink chalk natural. All of the fill was retrieved for wet-sieving. The grave proved to be heavily truncated by ploughing, and indeed the skull and parts of the hand and feet bones had been removed in this way. Those parts of the skeleton which remained were in a reasonable state of preservation, due to the alkaline nature of the chalk, although some of the intact bones were described as "crumbly" by the excavator. The skeleton proved to be in a very tight crouched position, with the arms folded across the chest (right over left) and the knees drawn up to just under the arms. Although the skull was missing, the position of the rest of the skeleton indicates an east-west alignment with the skull facing north. The dental evidence indicates that this was an older child or perhaps an adolescent. The body fitted very tightly into the grave cut. As with other graves, some parts of the skeleton were treated as individual finds, and lifted under separate tag numbers. Only one actual object was found, unfortunately it was an undiagnostic sherd of hand-built pottery.

All Contexts and Associated Finds Totals

CUT  FILL VOLUME OBJECTS AN BONE DENSITY
011AC00035 011AC00033 2 0
011AC00034 17 0

Context Details

011AC00035 Notes

KEY_ID TYPE SHAPE  L B  D PROFILE  NOTES
011AC00035 GRAVE CUT OVATE  78 47 19 U-SHAPED  CUT INTO A SLIGHTLY CRUMBLY RED/PINK NAT CHALK. SIMILARITY OF FILL TO SURROUNDING NATURAL MAKES PRECISE EDGE DEFINITION DIFFICULT. PLOUGH DAMAGED.
011AC00034 SKELETON No Entry  69 34  19 COMPLEX  TIGHTLY CROUCHED BURIAL. NEARLY COMPLETELY INTACT APART FROM SKULL NOT PRESENT, & PARTS OF ARMS & FEET REMOVED BY MODERN PLOUGHING. ADOLESCENT. 
011AC00033 GRAVE FILL OVATE  78 47 19 U-SHAPED  90% OF FILL IS REDEPOSITED PINK/RED CHALK INTERMIXED WITH SMALL POCKETS OF SILT. CHALK FRAGS < 6CM-MOSTLY SMALLER. ALL EXCAVATED FILL KEPT. 

Objects By Context

KEY_ID OB PERIOD MATERIAL TYPE SUB-TYPE NO
011AC00033 AA Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE FRAGMENT VERTEBRA     1
011AC00033 AB Unassigned POTTERY SHERD   1
011AC00034 AA Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE RIGHT FEMUR 3
011AC00034 AB Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE PELVIS 1
011AC00034 AC Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE LEFT FEMUR 1
011AC00034 AD Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE L.RAD+ULNA 22
011AC00034 AE Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE L.HUMERUS 1
011AC00034 AF Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE+TEETH JAW 4
011AC00034 AG Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE R.HUMERUS 1
011AC00034 AH Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE VERTEBRAE 15
011AC00034 AI Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE LEFT FOOT 5
011AC00034 AJ Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE LEFT SCAPULA 1
011AC00034 AK Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE R.CLAV+SCAP 2
011AC00034 AL Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONES RIGHT HAND 20
011AC00034 AM Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONES L.CLAVICLE? 4
011AC00034 AN Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONES LEFT RIBS 30
011AC00034 AO Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONES RIGHT RIBS 30
011AC00034 AP Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONES R.RAD+ULNA 2
011AC00034 AQ Unassigned HUMAN BONE BONE FRAGMENTS   50