Picket Twenty: Excavation of a Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery
Author: Alistair Barclay and Andrew Mudd†
Archaeological excavations in 2017 and 2018 at Picket Twenty, Andover, in advance of a housing development, revealed the remains of a barrow cemetery of Early Bronze Age date (2150–1500 BC). The cemetery lies within the upper reaches of the Test Valley, an area of chalkland known as the Hampshire Downs. The earliest barrow contained a Beaker burial, a possible ‘founder’ monument for the cemetery.
The barrows had suffered plough damage and no mounds or earthworks had survived into modern times. The barrows were still extant during the Roman and medieval periods, as evidenced by extensive deposits of Roman refuse in the ditches, and also a few medieval finds. The Roman material may represent ritual deposition, utilising the existing barrow ditches, interestingly there is limited evidence for Roman occupation in the vicinity so the location was deliberately chosen for these deposits.
