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Adam's Grave

4th-millennium BC architectureArchaeological sites in WiltshireBarrows in EnglandBuildings and structures in WiltshireScheduled monuments in Wiltshire
Stone Age sites in Wiltshire
Cattle on the side of Woodborough Hill geograph.org.uk 1411953
Cattle on the side of Woodborough Hill geograph.org.uk 1411953

Adam's Grave was a Neolithic long barrow near Alton Barnes in Wiltshire, southwest England. Its remains have been scheduled as an ancient monument.The barrow is considered to be of the Severn-Cotswold tomb type. These generally consist of long, precisely built trapezoidal earth mounds covering burial chambers, thus they are a type of chambered long barrow. The chamber, made of sarsen stones, contained partial human skeletons. An arrowhead was also recovered. There is a breast-shaped hill on the spot, with the remains of the barrow being 70 metres (230 ft) long and around 7 metres (23 ft) high with ditches on either side. It was partially excavated by John Thurnam in 1860. The area around Adam's Grave has a high density of long barrows and is important because of its archaeological potential.The arrangement of stones around the site suggests there was once a kerb or forecourt. They are known as 'Old Adam' and 'Little Eve' and are near the original entrance to the barrow. According to folklore the barrow is the grave of a giant, and his ghost has been reported. Associations with the nearby monument at Avebury have also been suggested.In the Anglo-Saxon period, the site was known as "Woden's Barrow" (Old English "Wōdnesbeorg") and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records two battles, in 592 and 715, thought to have taken place at the site.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Adam's Grave (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.369444444444 ° E -1.84 °
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Adam's Grave

Workway Drove
SN8 4JX , Alton
England, United Kingdom
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Cattle on the side of Woodborough Hill geograph.org.uk 1411953
Cattle on the side of Woodborough Hill geograph.org.uk 1411953
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Nearby Places

Knap Hill
Knap Hill

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.