AN UPSIDE down pot unearthed on Petersfield Heath has secured the status of the archaeological dig there being one of the most nationally significant of modern times.
The Bronze Age funeral urn, which was carefully lifted out of a barrow just before darkness fell on Monday, is now the fourth cremation container to be discovered.
And with every find, momentum and excitement grows as the highly successful People of the Heath project overseen by Petersfield Museum reaches a climax in spring next year.
It has put Petersfield on the archaeological map, with visitors to the Heath and the finds exhibition at the town museum spreading the word.
Around 1,500 school children will have taken part in the digs by next year and dig artefacts are set to be given pride of place in the town’s new-look museum, with a full interpretation of their history to be provided.
Project co-director Dr Stuart Needham said: “It’s important in that very few barrow cemeteries have seen this kind of systematic investigation in modern times, from the 1950s.
“There is very little to compare to the scale of this. We have been very privileged to be given permission by Historic England.” Although the project finishes next year, with 15 out of the 21 barrows likely to be excavated, the aim, if more funding can be secured, is to find evidence of a settlement of our ancestors on the Heath.
There had been none found so far in the whole of the Rother Valley area, said project co-director George Anelay. “We are taking one step at a time, but that could be a possibility. That would be fantastic,” he said.
This week’s find was a collared urn, up to 4,000 years old, which was upside down in a ring bank barrow, intact but with its base detached. So far, all the Heath burial sites have been different. One turned up the remains of a wooden box, another the remains of a bag – with the wooden handle reconstructed and on display in the museum – one a large urn, and now this smaller one, at 35cm tall.
The urns are being given CT scans at Salisbury Hospital and their contents examined. Dig volunteer Jane King has been tasked with emptying out the urns in Winchester before tests are made.