Neolithic Palisades
The Neolithic culture may have been even more sophisticated than archaeologists have hitherto thought, if a new excavation in mid-Wales fulfills its early promises.
1996 had been a hot, dry summer in Britain. Six or seven weeks without rain left news commentators talking anxiously about drought and water boards worrying about supplies to the population in their areas. The weather, however, was a boon to archaeologists in mid-Wales. In normal weather conditions the depth to which ground has been ploughed is more or less irrelevant: there is more than enough water for all the plants. In harsher conditions, however, plants on ground which has been deeply dug grow taller and more luxuriant than their neighbours on shallower soil. Sometimes the difference is noticeable on the ground; more often it only appears from the air.
Some bright-eyed aerial photographer noticed a very large circle marked out in this way near New Radnor in mid-Wales and reported it to the appropriate authorities. At first they were inclined to be sceptical, for the circle, at 1.75 miles in circumference, was larger than the huge ceremonial site at Avebury in Wiltshire, not far from Stonehenge. Nevertheless an inspection on the ground revealed enough to justify a trial dig.
The results were spectacular. The archaeologists discovered typical Neolithic ditches and banks — the ditches were the origin of the crop markings — but the astonishing thing was that the banks were topped with timber palisades. On their own, such palisades are not at all unusual: virtually every hill fort was reinforced with tree trunks. It was the size of the palisades that left the archaeologists gasping. The post holes left by the decayed timber were over three feet in diameter!
Now a tree-trunk three feet in diameter is big timber by anybody's standard, but when you consider that the remains of the wood showed it to be oak, a heavy, close-grained timber, you are talking weight — big weight! The archaeologists estimate that each of these posts must have weighed about three tons, and there were at least 1,400 of them. This adds up to well over 4,500 tons of timber to be cut, trimmed, transported and set upright. One hesitates to think what a modern construction company would charge for such a task.
As the leader of the "dig" remarks, we have here evidence for a sophisticated social structure in the Neolithic period. (Radio-carbon dates of 3,500 BC have been recorded for this site.) These people were not primitive farmers, living simple lives in their isolated villages. They must have had a social organisation that linked many villages and communities together. This implies some form of government, probably a king or paramount chief, who may well have had councils of elders to assist him, police and soldiers to enforce his commands, tax-gatherers to provide the means to pay these functionaries and so on.
What is not clear is the exact nature of the site. Was it, like Avebury, a religious or ceremonial centre, or was it, like other hill forts, a defended and fortified residence? The archaeologists are urgently trying to raise funds to enable them to excavate the centre of the circle, for only there can the answers be found to these questions.
