Cutting the Ground

This chapter presents a detailed description, discussion, and reinterpretation of the Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Etton in southern Britain. Discussion focuses on the sequences of digging-filling-resurfacing-redigging at the site, and examines the differences between the ditches and the interior filled-pits, as well as the eastern and the western segments of the site, and the distribution of different categories and conditions of artifacts. One result is a rethinking of the existing understanding of the site as connected to structured deposition, ground stone artifacts, and human lives. The proposal is that the reader interprets the site as a textured surface that was cut, resurfaced, and then cut again. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the relevance of this rereading of Etton for our understanding of the pit-houses at Măgura and at similar sites.