Knap Hill lies on the northern rim of the Vale of Pewsey, in northern Wiltshire, England, about a mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Alton Priors. At the top of the hill is a causewayed enclosure, a form of Neolithic earthwork that was constructed in England from about 3700 BC onwards, characterized by the full or partial enclosure of an area with ditches that are interrupted by gaps, or causeways. Their purpose is not known: they may have been settlements, or meeting places, or ritual sites of some kind. The site has been scheduled as an ancient monument.
Knap Hill is notable as the first causewayed enclosure to be excavated and identified. In 1908 and 1909, Benjamin and Maud Cunnington spent two summers investigating the site, and Maud published two reports of their work, noting that there were several gaps in the ditch and bank surrounding the enclosure. In the late 1920s, after the excavation of Windmill Hill and other sites, it became apparent that causewayed enclosures were a characteristic monument of the Neolithic period. About a thousand causewayed enclosures have now been found in Europe, including around seventy in Britain.
This site was excavated again in 1961 by Graham Connah, who kept thorough stratigraphic documentation. In 2011, the Gathering Time project published an analysis of radiocarbon dates which included several new dates from Connah's finds. It concluded that there was a 91% chance that the Knap Hill enclosure was constructed between 3530 and 3375 BC.
Two barrows lay within the Neolithic enclosure, and at least one more outside it. The hilltop also contains the remains of a Romano-British settlement on an adjoining smaller area called the plateau enclosure, along with some evidence of occupation in the 17th century. An Anglo-Saxon sword was found in the smaller enclosure, and there is evidence of an intense fire in the same area, which implies a violent end to the Romano-British occupation of the hilltop.
Background The main archaeological site at Knap Hill is a causewayed enclosure,Oswald et al. (2001), pp. 156–157. a form of earthwork which began to be constructed in England in the early Neolithic, from about 3700 BC.Oswald et al. (2001), p. 3. (Both the causewayed enclosure and the hill itself are referred to as Knap Hill.) Causewayed enclosures are areas that are fully or partially enclosed by segmented ditches (that is, ditches interrupted by gaps, or causeways, of unexcavated ground), often with earthworks and palisades in some combination. How these enclosures were used has long been a matter of debate, and researchers have made many suggestions. They were previously known as "causewayed camps", since it was thought they were used as settlements: early investigators suggested that the inhabitants lived in the ditches, but this idea was later abandoned in favour of believing that any settlement was within the enclosure boundaries.Whittle, Healy & Bayliss (2015), p. 5.Oswald et al. (2001), p. 9.
In a 1912 report on an excavation at Knap Hill, it was assumed that the ramparts were a form of defence.Cunnington (1912), p. 48. The causeways were difficult to explain in military terms, though it was suggested they could have been sally ports for defenders to emerge from and attack a besieging force;Curwen (1930), p. 50. evidence of attacks at some sites provided support for the idea that the enclosures were fortified settlements. They may have been seasonal meeting places, used for trading cattle or other goods such as pottery, and if they were a focus for the local people, they may have been evidence of a local hierarchy with a tribal chief. There is also evidence that they played a role in funeral rites: material such as food, pottery, and human remains were deliberately deposited in the ditches.Whittle, Healy & Bayliss (2015), pp. 10–11. They were constructed in a short time, which implies significant organization since substantial labour would have been required, for clearing the land, preparing trees for use as posts or palisades, and digging the ditches.Andersen (2019), p. 807.
In 1930, the archaeologist Cecil Curwen identified sixteen sites that were definitely or probably Neolithic causewayed enclosures.Curwen (1930).Oswald et al. (2001), p. 25. Excavations at five of these had already confirmed them as Neolithic, and another four of Curwen's sites are now agreed to be Neolithic. A few more were found over the succeeding decades,Oswald et al. (2001), p. 31. and the list of known sites was significantly expanded with the use of aerial photography in the 1960s and early 1970s.Mercer (1990), pp. 10–12.
The earlier sites were mostly found on chalk uplands, but many of the ones discovered from the air were on lower-lying ground. Over seventy are known in the British Isles, and they are one of the most common types of early Neolithic site in western Europe, with about a thousand known in all.Andersen (2019), p. 796. They began to appear at different times in different parts of Europe: the dates range from before 4000 BC for such sites in northern France, to shortly before 3000 BC in northern Germany, Denmark and Poland. The enclosures in southern Britain and Ireland began to appear not long before 3700 BC, and continued to be built for at least 200 years. In a few cases, enclosures that had already been built continued to be used as late as 3300 to 3200 BC.Whittle, Healy & Bayliss (2015), pp. 1–2.
Site
Knap Hill is in Wiltshire, about a mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Alton Priors. It is part of the chalk hills that form the northern rim of the Vale of Pewsey, and is flanked by Golden Ball Hill to the east, and Walker Hill to the west. Golden Ball Hill has traces of Mesolithic activity,Whittle, Bayliss & Healy (2015), p. 97. and two other Neolithic sites are nearby: Adam's Grave, a chambered long barrow on Walker Hill, and Rybury, a causewayed enclosure, further west. The south side of the hill is the steepest, with more gradual slopes to the north and west. A narrow neck of land connects it to Golden Ball Hill to the east.Cunnington (1912), p. 42. At one time there were two round barrows inside the enclosure; one of these was destroyed in the 19th century by flint diggers. A third barrow lies just outside the causewayed enclosure, to the south-west, and a fourth barrow may also have existed to the south, though the records that refer to it may be a confused reference to the third barrow.Connah (1965), p. 22, note 7.
The Neolithic causewayed enclosure on the top of Knap Hill consists of a ditch, and a bank inside it, that run along the north-western edge of the hilltop and extend partway down the south-western and north-eastern sides, with some of the bank extending past the ditch at the north-eastern edge.Cunnington (1912), pp. 43–45. Both the ditch and the bank were built in seven segments, with six gaps, or causeways, between the segments. Another short ditch at the eastern corner of the hill was divided into two sections,Cunnington (1912), p. 47. but no ditch or bank has yet been found along the southern edge of the hilltop. Knap Hill is unusual in that the gaps in the ditch correspond exactly to those in the bank; in most sites, there were at least three times as many gaps in the ditch as in the bank.Oswald et al. (2001), p. 43. The area of the enclosure is about .
To the north-east of the enclosure lies a smaller archaeological site known as the plateau enclosure,Cunnington (1912), p. 49. which dates from before and during the Romano-British occupation.Cunnington (1912), pp. 57–58. The plateau enclosure was also occupied in the 1600s, perhaps by shepherds. A bank, with a ditch on either side, runs from the south-eastern corner of the causewayed enclosure down the hill, which is too steep for this to have been a pathway.Cunnington (1912), pp. 45–46.Connah (1965), p. 2. Similarly, from one of the causeways on the north-western edge, a bank runs down the hill, this time with only one parallel ditch.Connah (1965), pp. 9–10. Both were probably boundary ditches.
Knap Hill is an example of an upland-oriented enclosure: it is on a prominent hill, which makes it a dramatic location when viewed from the south, but the land on which the enclosure is constructed tilts towards the upland to the north of the hill. Several other upland enclosures are similarly situated, and this is probably not by chance. Whitesheet Hill, Combe Hill and Rybury are other examples of enclosures that are hard to identify when seen from the lower ground below them, but which are much more visible viewed from the neighbouring uplands.Oswald et al. (2001), pp. 99–102. The archaeologist Roger Mercer considered Knap Hill to be "the most striking of all causewayed enclosures", and recommended viewing it from the road to the west that runs from Marlborough to Alton Priors.Mercer (1990), p. 66. The site has been scheduled as an ancient monument.
Antiquarian and archaeological investigations Knap Hill was first mentioned as being of antiquarian interest in 1680, by John Aubrey, who described it as "a small Roman camp above Alton".Mercer (1990), p. 20. Richard Colt Hoare mentioned Knap Hill early in the 19th century, noting "two small barrows, and another on the outside".Quoted in Thurnam (1860), p. 326.
John Thurnam, 1850s John Thurnam investigated the barrows between 1853 and 1857, but found the easternmost of the two barrows within the enclosure had been destroyed by flint diggers, with no trace left. The western barrow was about high, with a small ditch around it. Near the top of the barrow Thurnam found animal bones, which he described as "of a sheep and perhaps other ruminants", and commented in his account that this was consistent with other barrows in Wiltshire, which often contained animal bones near the surface of the barrow. He speculated that they were probably from a sacrifice or feast over the graves. Under the middle of the barrow was a circular hole dug into the chalk, deep and across. It was almost full of ashes and burnt bones. The barrow outside the enclosure, which lay to the south-west, was about high and Thurnam found nothing there but some animal bones near the surface.Thurnam (1860), pp. 326–327.Cunnington (1912), p. 43.
Benjamin and Maud Cunnington, 1908–1909 The Neolithic enclosure was first excavated by Maud and Benjamin Cunnington, in the summers of 1908 and 1909. The first summer's investigation revealed the segmented nature of the earthworks, and led to the publication of a short note by Maud Cunnington in the journal Man in 1909, in which she asked readers of the journal to suggest explanations:Cunnington (1909), pp. 49–52.
Recent excavations [at] Knap Hill Camp in Wiltshire revealed a feature which, if intentional, appears to be a method of defence hitherto unobserved in prehistoric fortifications in Britain... There are six openings or gaps through the rampart. It was thought at first that ... some of these gaps were due to cattle tracks, or possibly had been made for agricultural purposes... Excavations clearly showed that none of these gaps in the rampart are the result of wear or of any accidental circumstance, but that they are actually part of the original construction of the camp... Outside of, and corresponding to, each gap the ditch was never dug; that is to say, a solid gangway or causeway of unexcavated ground has been left in each case... Given the need for an entrenchment at all, it seems at first sight inexplicable why these frequent openings should have been left, when apparently they so weaken the whole construction... It has been suggested ... that the work of fortifications was never finished, [but there is] considerable evidence in favour of these causeways being an intentional feature of the original design of the camp... The possible use which the gangways may have served is put forward with all diffidence, and any suggestion on the subject would be welcomed.