Hazleton long barrows

Summary

Hazleton long barrows, known as Hazleton North and Hazleton South, are the remains of Neolithic barrows or cairns of the Cotswold-Severn Group, located close to the village of Hazleton in Gloucestershire, South West England.[1]

Archaeology edit

Hazleton North was excavated over several years, from 1979 to 1982, under the direction of Alan Saville.[2] The barrow was completely excavated, so all that remains of it are the now backfilled and below-ground quarry pits on the northern and southern sides of the barrow. In 2020 one of the Hazleton North burial chambers, built of limestone orthostats, was reconstructed as a new display at Corinium Museum in Cirencester.[3]

In 2021, archaeologists from the universities of Newcastle, Central Lancashire, Exeter and York, and geneticists from the universities of Harvard, Vienna, and the Basque country published the results of the examination of the bones and teeth of 35 people buried in Hazleton North. The research team discovered that 27 were biological relatives from five continuous generations of a single extended family.[4][5][6][7]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Hazleton long barrows, north and south, Hazleton". HistoricEngland.org.uk. list entry 1003316. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Alan Saville". The Guardian (obituary). 18 October 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Project update 2". Cirencester, UK: Corinium Museum. January 2020.
  4. ^ "World's oldest family tree revealed in 5,700 year-old Cotswolds tomb". The Guardian. 22 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  5. ^ Stephens, Max (22 December 2021). "Blended families existed in the Neolithic age, say Harvard scientists". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  6. ^ Ryan, Hannah (22 December 2021). "World's oldest family tree reconstructed from Stone Age tomb". CNN. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Archaeologists draw up 'oldest family tree' from ancient burial". The Independent. 22 December 2021. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2021.

Sources edit

  • Saville, Alan; Gowlett, John A.J.; Hedges, Robert E.M. (March 1987). "Radiocarbon dates from the chambered tomb at Hazleton (Glos.): A chronology for Neolithic collective burial". Antiquity. 61 (231): 108–119. doi:10.1017/S0003598X0007263X. S2CID 133180171.
  • Saville, Alan (1990). Hazleton North, Gloucestershire, 1979–82: The excavation of a neolithic long cairn of the Cotswold-Severn group (Report). English Heritage Archaeological Report. Vol. 13. London, UK: English Heritage. ISBN 978-1850742135.
  • Hedges, R.; Saville, A.; O'Connell, T. (2008). "Characterizing the diet of individuals at the neolithic chambered tomb of Hazleton North, Gloucestershire, England, using stable isotopic analysis". Archaeometry. 50 (1): 114–128. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00379.x.
  • Saville, Alan (2010). "Anatomizing an archaeological project – Hazleton revisited". Transactions of the Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. 128: 9–27.
  • Fowler, Chris; Olalde, Iñigo; Cummings, Vicki; Armit, Ian; Büster, Lindsey; Cuthbert, Sarah; et al. (22 December 2021). "A high-resolution picture of kinship practices in an Early Neolithic tomb". Nature. 601 (7894): 584–587. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04241-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 8896835. PMID 34937939.