Cutting Deep

This chapter presents a detailed description, discussion, and interpretation of the Middle Bronze Age site, the Wilsford Shaft. The discussion moves the debate beyond the existing ritual-versus-economic explanation, and argues that the reader should assess the site, its creation, and use in terms of digging to extreme depths. The chapter positions the Wilsford Shaft in the context of recent and current thinking about southern Britain in the Middle Bronze Age, as presented in a detailed description of excavations of the farmstead at Down Farm, and current thinking about the local prehistoric, social landscape in Britain at this time. The chapter concludes by suggesting that current attempts to understand Wilsford can be supplemented by focusing on the presence of ground-cutting that occurred both at The Shaft and at Down Farm.