Marlborough Mound has for so long been the subject of debate as to its true age. Was it constructed as a medieval motte (castle mound) or is it in fact substantially older, the same age in fact as nearby Silbury Hill, the iconic prehistoric earthwork?

18th Century Drawing of The Marlborough Mound

The Blog can now bring you the definitive answer – and it is reshaping how we understand the ancient Wessex landscape it inhabits. The mound, definitively used as a medieval fortified settlement, was already three-and-a-half thousand years old when the Normans arrived! This makes it the same age as the pyramids in Egypt!

Using the latest scientific techniques, English Heritage, supported by Marlborough College, cored the 19 metre high earthwork, recovering samples of young wood charcoal – the best material for dating – from several different levels throughout the mound.

These were then subjected to carbon 14 dating which astonishingly produced a date range from 2840-2040 bc, averaging out at 2400 bc. That all the dates were consistent increases the likelihood that the mound was constructed during this period, and probably over several seasons - again just as at Silbury Hill.

Supporting English Heritage in their work was Marlborough College, on whose land the Mound sits. Their press release that proudly announces the discovery also carries a useful introduction to the historic uses to which the Mound has been put. Please note that the mound is on private land and not accessible to the public.

So Wiltshire now has two prehistoric mounds, both built probably by seasonal workers, who invested them both with the same meaning and reverence as has traditionally been ascribed only to Silbury.

 
Silbury Hill from the air (after Roy Canham)

Because of these incredible results, a number of theories about this part of Wiltshire, and indeed Silbury Hill and the

Avebury World Heritage Site in which it sits, are now likely to be revisited. For example, Silbury Hill, famous for being the largest non-natural mound in prehistoric Europe, now has an albeit smaller contemporary. Were others built in the area, or elsewhere? Why would Bronze Age peoples of the Wessex landscape have constructed these massive earthworks in the first place? To do it once was astonishing…but repeatedly?

As work unfolds, and new theories emerge, the County Archaeology Service will continue to bring you the very latest updates through this Blog. Look out for future news.

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