The Bronze Age barrows and archaeology from excavations at Picket Twenty, Andover

Cotswold Archaeology had the opportunity to investigate a small Bronze Age barrow cemetery at Picket Twenty, on the eastern edge of modern Andover during 2017 to 2018, ahead of a residential development.

The excavation focused on the remains of five barrows all of which had been heavily truncated by ploughing with no surviving evidence for mounds. In addition to the barrows was limited evidence for settlement, although the areas away from the barrows was mostly found to be devoid of settlement. Apart from a single Beaker burial, the cemetery contained mostly cremation burials. One unusual structure was a stake circle, which had been built outside one of the barrows and linked by a row of posts. Cremation deposits placed near to the stake circle suggest it was part of a funerary structure such as a mortuary house. Slight traces of Bronze Age settlement activity occurred near the barrows.

The cemetery was mostly avoided for the next 1000 years, although during the Roman period, one of the barrow ditches was used to dump deposits of refuse, despite the lack of a nearby settlement.