II.—Excavation of Barrows on Crichel and Launceston Downs, Dorset

The excavations to be described were undertaken at the request of H.M. Office of Works in the summer of 1938, and were in the nature of ‘rescue work’, for the area on which the barrows lay had been acquired by a government department and it was felt desirable that some at least of the barrows should be excavated in advance of operations in order to avoid possible damage. With regard to the choice of sites, as will be seen from the site plan (fig. 1), there are altogether some 34 barrows in the area acquired by the Ministry, but it was found possible to limit the actual excavation to eighteen, mainly of small size and elevation, and many extremely small, and mostly within the central area of the ground. The rejection of the large barrows was largely governed by the time factor since the excavation of a large barrow would be of necessity a longer task than that of a small one, and in the limited time allowed we were faced with the alternative of excavating two or three large barrows or a larger number of relatively small mounds.