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Carol Gurnham

Archaeology, University of Leicester

Thesis title:

The Lost Long Barrows of Leicestershire and Rutland: searching for the archaeological landscape of Neolithic Leicestershire and Rutland

This project re-evaluates human occupation of the Leicestershire and Rutland region in the Neolithic, addressing especially the region’s apparent lack of Early Neolithic long barrows, whose construction coincided with the emergence of farming in Britain c.4000-3500BCE. 

These enigmatic monuments are long mounds of earth, turf, timber and/or stone, often containing chambers and burials. Whilst approximately 500 are known in Britain and Ireland, currently none have been confirmed in Leicestershire or Rutland, despite its clay and limestone geology forming a contiguous region with the Cotswolds and Lincolnshire Wolds where stone-chambered and earthen long barrows respectively are found. 

Destruction by intensive farming of the Midlands since the Medieval period may explain the apparent absence of long barrows. However, this ploughing, and its subsequent conversion to pasture, has left extensive ridge and furrow earthworks which survive as linear patterns in the landscape. Settlement features such as these field systems often respect or reuse earlier monuments, so, excitingly these field patterns offer an opportunity to model settlement and ceremonial spaces, and predict potential long barrow sites, when considered within the context of regional Neolithic monument distributions.

The project will use existing published and unpublished data, ongoing community archaeology generated data and fieldwork; it will employ GIS and predictive modelling, and aims to establish a database and methodology for future use. 

It will address The East Midlands Historic Environment Research Framework priority “3.6.2: Why were some monument types, such as causewayed enclosures, long cairns and henges, constructed in some areas but not others?”,  and aims to contribute to understanding of the environmental and cultural impacts of the introduction of farming , and to wider debates over heritage and landscape policies, including ‘nature’ and ‘rewilding’, through a better understanding of the historic contexts of landscape creation in the Neolithic.

Research Area

  • Archaeology
  • Landscape and Environmental Archaeology

Public Engagement & Impact

Secretary of the Leicestershire Fieldworkers

Secretary of the Hallaton Fieldwork Group

Memberships

The Prehistoric Society

The Neolithic Studies Group (NSG)

The Medieval Settlement Research Group (MSRG)

The International Association of Landscape Archaeology (IALA)

The Aerial Archaeology Research Group (AARG)

Landscape Survey Group (LSG)

Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society (LAHS)

Council for British Archaeology (CBA)

Council for British Archaeology East Midlands (CBA-EM)

Leicestershire Fieldworkers (LFW)

Oadby & Wigston Fieldwork Group (OWFG)

Hallaton Fieldwork Group (HFWG)

Institute for Environmental Futures (University of Leicester) (IEF)

International Society for Archaeological Prospection (ISAP)