Human bone: [contribution to the article 'Investigations at Hetty Pegler's Tump Neolithic Long Barrow, Uley, 2011' by A. Barber, and A. Mudd]

Archaeological investigations in 2011 in connection with remedial work to Hetty Pegler’s Tump chambered tomb, Uley, revealed a much disturbed north-western burial chamber which had been inaccessible since antiquarian excavations in the 19th century. Analysis of the soil beneath the chamber showed it to be a truncated Neolithic and pre-Neolithic calcareous brown earth containing preserved pollen, land snails and charred hazelnut shells. The pre-tomb environment was shown to have been mature hazel-dominated woodland. A radiocarbon measurement on hazelnut shell returned a date in the earlier 5th millennium BC (Late Mesolithic), indicating some pre-Neolithic activity as has been shown under other Cotswold long barrows. Two redeposited human bones yielded dates in the mid 4th millennium BC (Earlier Neolithic) conforming to the wider picture of the date of use of these monuments.