V99
The Sacred Circle area 1983-85
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Short Mound area - click here for details
The 1977 excavation of the SE end of the Long Mound showed it ended with a large post in the ground. It was assumed much the same would be the case at the other end. How wrong we were - as the CH83 season (above) showed. A stone circle with central slab was sited at the commanding viewpoint. We also excavated the large flat area here (above right, looking NW in 1984, circle in the foreground). There was a post-Roman settlement here on top of Neolithic causewayed ditches. In the third season of pealing away the layers of the circle, a much earlier shrine was exposed (right, 1985), visible as a light coloured square area in X96.
Overlying all this ceremonial/religious construction was a second Post-Roman settlement. It seems to have been higher status than the one found down the hill in 1982. A substantial house and granary were amongst buildings located centred on squares X95 and Y95.