Neolithic ditches

Photo of Ditch at the Avebury henge (Wiltshire, United Kingdom), an outsanding example of the otherwise widely spread Neolithic ditches
Ditch at Avebury henge (Wiltshire, United Kingdom). Copyright © Victor Jimenez Jaimez 2015 – Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

Ditches are longitudinal dug features. They were the most widespread way of enclosing a place during the Neolithic in Europe, although there is some discussion as to whether the ditches are buildings in themselves or just an inevitable by-product of extracting earth to build a bank. Regardless, Neolithic ditches are very often the only thing that remains of ancient enclosures, because the preservation of any above ground features, such as banks or palisades, is subject to more potentially destructive agents (e.g. erosion, post-abandonment human actions, etc.), and thereby less likely to survive until today.

Photo of a ditch at the reconstructed Neolithic Circular Enclosure at Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany). Neolithic ditches like these were al essential component of Central European enclosures like this one.
Ditch at the reconstructed Neolithic Circular Enclosure at Goseck (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany). Copyright © J.L. Caro Herrero 2015 – Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 3.0 Unported.

Neolithic ditches were excavated using the available tools at the time, that in many cases must have been picks made of antler (e.g. from deers).

Photo of a set of Neolithic antler picks. Antler picks like these were probably employed to excavate the Neolithic ditches at many enclosures
Antler picks like these were probably employed to excavate the ditches at many ditched enclosures. Copyright © Wessex Archaeology 2013 – Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0).

Neolithic ditches normally had a V or U-shaped profile, although other forms such as bowl-shaped are not uncommon.

Profile view of ditch 5 at Marroquíes Bajos (Spain)
Profile view of ditch 5 at Marroquíes Bajos (Jaén, Spain). Modified (cropped) from Lám. II in Sánchez, A.; Bellón, J. P.; Rueda, C.; Díaz, Mª. J.; Portero, V.; Sánchez, B. 2004. Intervención arqueológica en la parcela DOC-1 del SUNP-1 de la Zona Arqueológica de Marroquíes Bajos (Jaén). Nueva ubicación del Colegio Público Cándido Nogales. Anuario Arqueológico de Andalucía 2001, vol. III (1): 578-585. Copyright © Sanchez et alii 2005 – Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) Spain.

When archaeologists detect a ditch, they do not usually appear empty. Quite the contrary, they are filled with archaeological deposits that can be studied. A lot of information can be obtained from artefacts and ecofacts included in them and their spatial distribution. On occassions these contexts are virtually the only source of archaeological material we have at our disposal at these sites. When excavated, these deposits can be seen in the ditches’ profiles or sections.

Drawing of the profile of an excavated ditch.
Stratigraphic profile of a prehistoric ditch in the proximity of Cerro de Marimacho (Antequera, Málaga, Spain). Reproduced from figure 7.B in David García González; Antonio Morgado; Francisco Martínez-Sevilla; Rafael M. Martínez Sánchez; Sergio Fernández Martín; Mario Gutiérrez-Rodríguez; and Pedro Sánchez Bandera. 2014. Intervención en el Cerro de Marimacho (Antequera, Málaga): primeras evidencias de la existencia de un foso. Menga, Revista de Prehistoria de Andalucía, 5: 247-257.Copyright © D. García et alii 2014 – (CC BY-NC-ND) 3.0 Unported.

 

The composition of their fillings shows great diversity, but in general terms Neolithic ditches were filled with different combinations of soil, artefacts and ecofacts, either in one step or as a sequence of actions. Finds may include stones (often pebbles), potsherds, flint tools, flint knapping waste, quern stones, charcoal, ashes, seashells and small clay, stone or bone anthropomorphic figures. Most objects are broken; complete artefacts do exist but are rare. In addition to these, huge amounts of faunal remains and a significant number of human bones are frequent. The majority of animal remains are incomplete carcasses and body parts, but complete and fully articulated animal skeletons are not uncommon. As with animals, both complete human bodies (crouched or in foetal position) and isolated or piled up body parts (skulls, joints, individual bones) have been recorded. As a whole, some of these mixed deposits filling Neolithic ditches seem to be the outcome of natural processes of deposition, whereas other times items seem intentionally placed and arranged for unknown reasons.

Photo of an anthropomorphic figurine and some animal bones placed together within Ditch 1 at Perdigoes (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal).
An anthropomorphic figurine and some animal bones placed together within Ditch 1 at Perdigoes (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal). Reproduced from Márquez-Romero, J.E., J. Suárez, V. Jiménez-Jáimez & E. Mata. 2011b. Avance a la secuencia estratigráfica del “foso 1” de Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal) a partir de las campañas 2009 y 2010. Menga, Revista de Prehistoria de Andalucía 2, 157-75. Copyright © J. E. Márquez Romero et alii 2011 – CC BY 4.0 International.

An example: Neolithic/Copper Age ditches at Perdigões.

Two parallel ditches on both sides of an entrance to the enclosed area at Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal). Some pits can also be seen. Copyright © José Suárez Padilla , José Luis Caro Herrero, Elena Mata Vivar, José E. Márquez and Víctor Jiménez Jáimez 2015 - Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). These are not Neolithic dithes; they are Chalcolithic.
Two parallel Copper Age ditches on both sides of an entrance to the enclosed area at Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal). Some pits can also be seen. Copyright © José Suárez Padilla , José Luis Caro Herrero, Elena Mata Vivar, José E. Márquez and Víctor Jiménez Jáimez 2015 – Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

The Perdigões archaeological complex (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal) is a prehistoric site near the Guadiana River, comprising at least 12 ditched enclosures, several hundred pits, an area with megalithic tombs and a set of standing stones (cromeleque). It is located in one of the richest archaeological landscapes of Iberia, with notable examples of Prehistoric monumental architecture such as menhirs and portal tombs (antas). A team from the University of Málaga (Spain) has been carrying out fieldwork in collaboration with the Portuguese entity ERA Arqueologia at the site since 2008. This includes geophysical (2008-2009) and micro-topographical (2011) surveys of the whole site, as well as both open-area excavations (2012-2013) and trenches (2009-2010, 2013-2015) in the area surrounding Entrance 1, as can be seen in the image above.

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