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<< Other Photo Pages >> Cat's Brain - Long Barrow in England in Wiltshire

Submitted by davidmorgan on Wednesday, 12 July 2017  Page Views: 11059

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Cat's Brain
Country: England County: Wiltshire Type: Long Barrow
Nearest Town: Pewsey
Map Ref: SU1185057889
Latitude: 51.319986N  Longitude: 1.831342W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
1 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Cat's Brain
Cat's Brain submitted by dodomad : University of Reading Archaeology Field School write: we have some exciting news to share with you about our second site Cat's brain. We have uncovered a lovely Neolithic long barrow with two flanking ditches. We are excited to learn more about this previously unknown monument and what it may contain! Photo Credit: Andy Burns (Vote or comment on this photo)
Newly discovered Long Barrow in Wiltshire. Currently under excavation by University of Reading Archaeology Field School.

The barrow consists of a U-shaped ditch with what appears to be a rectangular structure in the middle, possibly a "house of the dead". It is estimated to date from around 3600 BCE. See the comments below for more details
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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
SU1258 : Un-named lane south of Mullens Farm by Stuart Logan
by Stuart Logan
©2013(licence)
SU1258 : Minor road between Hilcott and North Newnton by JThomas
by JThomas
©2019(licence)
SU1158 : Bales and manure by Michael Dibb
by Michael Dibb
©2017(licence)
SU1258 : Track and field near Hilcott by JThomas
by JThomas
©2019(licence)
SU1158 : Entrance to Hillcott by Alex McGregor
by Alex McGregor
©2012(licence)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 2.8km W 277° Marden Henge* Henge (SU09085820)
 2.9km W 278° Marden Timber Circle Timber Circle (SU090583)
 3.3km NW 323° The Hanging Stone (Wiltshire)* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SU099605)
 4.3km NNW 345° Alton Barnes Modern Stone* Modern Stone Circle etc (SU10736202)
 4.3km NNW 346° All Saints (Alton Priors)* Holed Stone (SU108621)
 4.4km S 185° Casterley Camp* Hillfort (SU115535)
 4.4km NNW 346° Broad Well (Alton Priors)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU108622)
 5.2km SE 140° Chisenbury Camp Hillfort (SU15195387)
 5.2km NNW 328° All Saints Church Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SU0908262340)
 5.3km ENE 66° Pewsey Standing Stones* Modern Stone Circle etc (SU167601)
 5.4km SSE 150° East Chisenbury Midden Ancient Village or Settlement (SU14605323)
 5.5km N 354° Adam's Grave (Alton Barnes)* Long Barrow (SU1123363386)
 5.7km N 1° Knap Hill Bowl Barrow 2 Round Barrow(s) (SU11976358)
 5.7km N 353° Walkers Hill Earthwork* Misc. Earthwork (SU11136355)
 5.7km N 3° Knap Hill* Causewayed Enclosure (SU121636)
 5.7km N 358° Adam's Grave's Round Barrows 1* Round Barrow(s) (SU116636)
 5.7km N 356° Adam's Graves Round Barrows 2* Round Barrow(s) (SU114636)
 5.7km N 2° Knap Hill Bowl Barrow 1* Round Barrow(s) (SU12056362)
 6.0km NNW 349° Alton Barnes White Horse* Hill Figure or Geoglyph (SU10676373)
 6.1km N 349° Milk Hill Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU10716387)
 6.1km N 358° New Town Tumuli Round Barrow(s) (SU11596403)
 6.2km NNW 344° Milk Hill Cross Dyke* Misc. Earthwork (SU10086381)
 6.3km NNE 19° Gopher Wood Barrows Barrow Cemetery (SU139639)
 6.4km S 171° Enfold Bowl Barrow* Round Barrow(s) (SU129516)
 6.6km SE 134° Lidbury Camp Hillfort (SU16645335)
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"Cat's Brain" | Login/Create an Account | 16 News and Comments
  
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Re: Cat's Brain by Zooks777 on Tuesday, 17 August 2021
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Absolutely nothing shows up at the posted location on Environment Agency lidar (grey icon next to CamRA), which is odd given that the data are from 2020 and the site was excavated in 2017. Down to security?
[ Reply to This ]

Lecture: Cat’s Brain by Dr Jim Leary, Saturday 24 March 2018 by Andy B on Saturday, 10 March 2018
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Lecture: Cat’s Brain – a Neolithic ‘house of the dead’ by Dr Jim Leary

Dr Leary has very kindly agreed to return to the Museum on Saturday 24 March at 2.30pm to repeat the lecture that was fully booked on 27 January.
This is an opportunity for those who couldn’t get tickets first time round to hear all about the latest results from the Vale of Pewsey project, led by Reading University and including the newly excavated sit at Cat’s Brain, near Marden Henge

Booking essential
Tickets: £7.00 (£4.50 WANHS members)

Details here
http://www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/?event=lecture-cats-brain-neolithic-house-dead-dr-jim-leary
[ Reply to This ]

Digging for Britain, BBC iPlayer by Andy B on Friday, 24 November 2017
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The excavations at Cat’s Brain, including the decorated chalk blocks, feature on Digging for Britain,BBC4, at 9pm on Wednesday November 22.

West - Digging for Britain, Series 6 Episode 1 of 4

Professor Alice Roberts explores some of this year's most exciting archaeological finds from the west of Britain. Each discovery comes straight from the trenches/site, filmed by the archaeologists themselves. We discover the camp from which Vikings invaded Britain, and find groundbreaking new evidence that the world-famous Avebury stone circle isn't just a sacred site but a place where our ancestors lived and worked - a discovery that's also changing our understanding of neighbouring Stonehenge. In Staffordshire, the oldest Iron Age gold in Britain is unearthed - a set of beautiful gold torcs, mysteriously abandoned 2,500 years ago.
Show less

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09gfxbj
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Cat's Brain by ian991 on Friday, 24 November 2017
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Hello,
There is a newest discovery made by Archeology Field School. they excavated "Cat's Brain". It is likely to date to around 3800B.C.

Their conclusion is that there could be another perspective, about this extraordinary place. They actually revealed a timber hall, and they suggest it was very much a house for the living.

It seems like this place was some kind of living house! Take a look at this article

6,000-year-old monument offers a tantalising glimpse of Britain’s neolithic civilisation by Jim Leary

It has long been assumed that Neolithic long barrows are funerary monuments; often described as “houses of the dead” due to their similarity in shape to long houses. But the limited evidence for human remains from many of these monuments calls this interpretation into question, and suggests that there is still much to be learnt about them.

In fact, by referring to them as long barrows we may well be missing the main point. To illustrate this, our excavations at Cat’s Brain failed to find any human remains, and instead of a tomb they revealed a timber hall, suggesting that it was very much a “house for the living”. This provides an interesting opportunity to rethink these famous monuments.

The timber hall at Cat’s Brain was surprisingly large, measuring almost 20 metres long and ten metres wide at the front. It was built using posts and beamslots, and some of these timbers were colossal with deep cut foundation trenches, so that it’s general appearance is of a robust building with space for considerable numbers of people. The beamslots along the front of the building are substantially deeper than the others, suggesting that its frontage may have been impressively large, monumental in fact, and a break halfway along this line indicates the entrance way.

An ancient ‘House Lannister’?

Timber halls such as these are an aspect of the earliest stages of the Neolithic period in Britain, and there seems little doubt that they were created by early pioneer Neolithic people. Frequently, they appear to have lasted only two or three generations before being deliberately destroyed or abandoned. These houses need not be dwellings, however, and given their size could have acted as large communal gathering places.

More on the link above
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Cat's Brain by Andy B on Friday, 24 November 2017
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    Thanks for the link Ian, Jim writes:

    It has long been assumed that Neolithic long barrows are funerary monuments; often described as “houses of the dead” due to their similarity in shape to long houses. But the limited evidence for human remains from many of these monuments calls this interpretation into question, and suggests that there is still much to be learnt about them.

    Really? Which sites have limited evidence for human remains?

    The point about the wider meaning of 'houses' is a very good one though.

    The excavations at Cat’s Brain, including the decorated chalk blocks, featured on Digging for Britain,BBC4, at 9pm on Wednesday November 22.

    Andy
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Cat's Brain by Andy B on Tuesday, 01 August 2017
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Austin Kinsley writes: When we visited a short lecture was given providing an update on the excavations to date, confirming that the feature is indeed a long barrow and:

* A trapezoidal feature has been identified inside the long barrow.
* Evidence remains of the whole of the outer ditches, the insides and a number of pits.
* Animal bones have been identified in at least one of the pits.
* Other finds to date include worked flints and a Saxon brooch.
* It is a Cranbourne Chase-style long barrow.

Chatting informally with Dr. Leary, he suggested this long barrow exhibits similarities to Fussell’s Lodge, a Neolithic long barrow noticed from the air in 1924, seven and a half miles southeast of Stonehenge and excavated in 1957.

More with lots of aerial photos, and Pete Glastonbury thinks he's spotted a henge cropmark - bottom of the page here:

https://www.silentearth.org/cats-brain-long-barrow-wiltshire/
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Cat's Brain by Anonymous on Sunday, 16 July 2017
Adam Stanfords 3D model: https://skfb.ly/6srrZ
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Cat's Brain by bat400 on Wednesday, 12 July 2017
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Does anyone know how this place got this name?
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Cat's Brain by TheCaptain on Wednesday, 12 July 2017
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    When I initially saw this, I thought it was probably near me, and was slightly surprised when I found out it was over there in Wiltshire. Catbrain is obviously a more common name than you might initially think. There are two places near me in Gloucestershire called Catbrain, an old village now mostly concreted over at ST576805 and also a wood at ST790934 (see here).

    A quick google turns this up , which states "Catbrain, Gloucestershire. From the Middle English “cattes brazen” – a reference to the rough clay mixed with stones that’s widespread in the area, as opposed to feline anatomy".

    I assume something similar applies here.
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Cat's Brain by davidmorgan on Thursday, 13 July 2017
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    That soil looks very grey. It seems there are layers of gault clay and upper/lower greensand in the the area, although I can't find a detailed geological map... The British Geological Society map says upper greensand.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Cat's Brain by davidmorgan on Wednesday, 12 July 2017
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Lots of reporting about this in today's papers:

Daily Mirror - 5,000-year-old burial mound flanking "House of the Dead" could contain bodies of Stonehenge ancestors

Telegraph - 5,000-year-old 'House of the dead' discovered between Stonehenge and Avebury

BBC - 'Incredible' burial mound near Stonehenge to be excavated
[ Reply to This ]
    Reading University Field School Open Day, Saturday 15th July 2017 by Andy B on Wednesday, 12 July 2017
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    The Field School will be excavating within the Vale of Pewsey between Monday 26 June and Thursday 27 July 2017.

    Visitors are welcome to visit the excavation sites during the season. We are open to visitors between 9:30 and 17:00 Mondays – Saturdays (closed Friday 30 June, Friday 7 July and Friday 14 July).

    The working week for students runs:

    9:30 – 17:00 from Monday to Saturday (closed Fridays)
    10:00 – 16:30 on Sunday

    Group visits are welcome. Please let us know in advance by emailing fieldschool@reading.ac.uk.

    There will be display panels and student tours to help visitors understand both the archaeology and the history it reveals. Admission and activities are free.

    Field School Open Day

    We will be holding an Open Day between 9:30 and 17:00 on Saturday 15 July 2017. Admission is free and there is no need to book.

    Visit us for up-to-date tours, children's activities and a chance to look behind the scenes at a large excavation project. There is parking at the excavation site. Please use postcode SN10 3RQ for the Millstream Inn, Marden, and then continue through the village until you see us in a field on the right – parking is available here.

    Admission and activities are free.

    More at
    https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/undergraduate-degrees/field-school-visit.aspx
    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: Reading University Field School Open Day, Saturday 15th July 2017 by Anonymous on Wednesday, 12 July 2017
      This seems to be at Marden. Does anyone know if the excavation at Catsbrain also has an open day on Saturday?
      [ Reply to This ]
        Re: Reading University Field School Open Day, Saturday 15th July 2017 by Anonymous on Thursday, 13 July 2017
        This is what I am trying to find out. I want to know if the excavation is going to be at this new finding sight... I dont want to drive 3 hours if not.....
        [ Reply to This ]
    About the Vale of Pewsey Project by Andy B on Wednesday, 12 July 2017
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    Other Vale of Pewsey Sites

    The area around Marden henge has seen very little archaeological work, particularly compared to the famous sites of Avebury and Stonehenge to the north and south.

    We now know that there are many other monuments preserved in the Vale of Pewsey, particularly along the upper reaches of the River Avon.

    These include the Wilsford henge, a possible long barrow at Cat's Brain, a mortuary enclosure, barrow cemeteries, and later prehistoric enclosures.

    https://www.reading.ac.uk/field-school/About/afs-about-pewsey.aspx
    [ Reply to This ]
    The field school are also excavating at Marden Henge by Andy B on Wednesday, 12 July 2017
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    The field school are also excavating at Marden Henge

    http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=5087
    [ Reply to This ]

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