Neolithic Enclosure at Butts Brow
The top of Butts Brow on the downs is home to an ancient monument created by people living in Eastbourne around 5000 years ago. This Neolithic enclosure is formed by a bank and a ditch around the hill top. Although we don’t know exactly what enclosures like this were used for, there are a few possibilities. Archaeological evidence suggests it was used as a place for young people to learn how to make flint tools and it is likely it was also used as a meeting place or possibly as part of a processional route leading from or to a Neolithic settlement at Beachy Head. The effort and resources required to build it tells us that the group or communities here 5000 years ago were not just surviving, they were thriving.
What is it?
During excavations of the ditch, a large amount of flint debitage (the flakes created when flint knapping to make stone tools) was found. Some of the debitage was quite crude, something that might have been created by someone learning how to make tools. So, could this be some sort of flint school? It’s also possible that the enclosure here and the one on the next hill over, Combe Hill, are part of a processional route leading from or to a Neolithic settlement at Beachy Head. Evidence for an opening or entrance into the enclosure that leads directly onto the Downland ridge and path (now the South Downs Way) supports this idea.
Combe Hill
During excavations of the enclosure by Dr Veronica Seton-Williams in 1962, 3 polished stone axes were uncovered at the end of the ditch nearest the mound you can see. These axes had been deliberately deposited in the ditch and were probably polished to make them stronger. It’s also possible that they were polished to make them ‘special’ and a treasured object or gift.
You can have a look at a 3D models of the axes
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Earlier excavations of the enclosure by Mr Reginald Musson in 1949 uncovered a dump of 912 sherds of Neolithic pottery, ox and pig bones, a leaf shaped flint arrowhead and two sandstone rubbing stones. In the same area, a possible hearth was revealed containing charcoal from ash, hazel and hawthorn. The charcoal was dated to 3400BC and could suggest that the hearth and these finds were deposited around the time of scrub regeneration in the area. Evidence from environmental samples including an analysis of land snails suggests that the enclosure might have been constructed in shaded conditions or in an area of recently cleared woodland.
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The mound next to the enclosure is a Bronze Age barrow that, as well as a burial, contained a Bronze Age hoard of 3 and a half axes – all deliberately broken and there is an idea that objects found like this (broken then buried) particularly in burial mounds, represent a ritual ‘killing’ of the objects, perhaps a way for them to accompany the person buried in the barrow to their next life.