The burning question: What purpose could burnt mounds have served?
- DATE WRITTEN:
- READING TIME: 3 minutes
- AUTHORS: Candice 'Niki' Wachtel (Community Engagement Archaeologist)
Burnt mounds are one of the most widespread prehistoric features in Britain and Ireland, yet they remain some of the most mysterious…
These features are made up of masses of heat affected stones and flint along with charcoal. Scattered across low lying areas near rivers, marshes, and natural springs, most of these once prominent heaps of heat‑shattered stone and charcoal have now been flattened by centuries of ploughing and farming. Such activity has left only a large spread of this material which fills associated features such as pits, wells and trough-like features that utilise these local water sources. Analysis shows the mounds were used repeatedly over decades or possibly even centuries, with the stones being heated and rapidly quenched in water. But what these sites were actually used for has remained a hot topic of debate in the archaeological community.
The big question remains, what were people doing here? Since it’s rare to find evidence of their products it’s hard to say for certain, but archaeologists have explored everything from cooking and brewing to hide tanning, woodworking, textile production, and even sauna‑style bathing. Experimental archaeology and historical records have looked into this topic and suggest most of these activities could be possible at burnt mounds, or they may even have served multiple purposes over time.
Recent excavations by Cotswold Archaeology strongly suggest that burnt mounds were used primarily for hide‑tanning. Evidence from three sites, Marham Park in Fornham All Saints, Laxfield, and Hepworth, all points in the same direction. Thanks to modern sampling methods, these investigations are revealing a compelling and increasingly consistent picture of why these features were formed.
Although bone preservation is limited, the bone that does survive is predominantly cattle, a species commonly associated with hide production, our first indication of tanning.
We then look to the flint tools where microwear analysis reveals patterns resulting from scraping, piercing, and cutting dry hides, consistent with the processes used in preparing skins. Chemical evidence adds further weight to this interpretation, with one trough containing a distinctive “greasy fill” mixed with burnt flint, and the analysis of it identified lipids from cattle and other animals, which is a strong indicator that the trough was used in preparing animal remains.
Environmental evidence also supports this seasonal craft. At Marham Park, geoarchaeological analysis shows that the main well area was only reliably wet during certain times of year, suggesting the site was used seasonally rather than continuously.
Pollen evidence across all three sites paints a similar picture, showing that the surrounding landscape was likely pasture at Marham and Hepworth, and pasture on the edge of woodland in the case of Laxfield. Across these pasture lands, subtle shifts in the pollen record suggest seasonal use of the area, consistent with activity that could relate to use of the mounds.
On previously studied burnt mound sites across the country, analysis of this seasonality often points to late summer/early autumn, which is when communities would have been preparing hides after seasonal culling. And given the notoriously foul smell of tanning, it makes perfect sense that these sites were located well away from settlements if this is what they were undertaking.
Burnt mounds continuously spark a heated discussion and each site brings more insight into the everyday work of prehistoric life. With excavation methods becoming more and more thorough and avenues of analysis growing through the years, we consistently gain more information and get ever closer to the answers. Learn all about how we do so in our new monograph and what it can tell us about burnt mounds in the Suffolk claylands.
Want to know more about burnt mounds in Suffolk?
Click here to read our new Monograph: Burnt Mounds and the Bronze Age Exploitation of the Suffolk Claylands.
