Skip to contentExcavation of Martin Camp
- Date
- 1895
- Comment
During the winter of 1895/96 General Pitt Rivers excavated this enclosure and settlement on Martin Down. It was built in the Middle Bronze Age, used to some extent by the Romano-British and shows some evidence of settlement outside the enclosure. It lies on a site used in Beaker times.
The enclosure is an irregular, rough rectangle of just over 1 1/2 acres, defined by a bank and external ditch, interrupted by one very wide gap on the uphill and two slighter interruptions.
Some worked flint and pottery was found during the excavation. A Romano-British child had been buried in the ditch.
The present earthwork is the General's reconstruction.
General Pitt-Rivers, the father of modern scientific archaeology, inherited the Rushmore Estates in 1880. During periods when there was little work to do on the farms, he used his labourers to excavate archaeological sites on the estate. Some of the impressive models of these excavations he had built can be seen in the Salisbury Museum.
- Additional information
During the winter of 1895/96 General Pitt Rivers excavated this enclosure and settlement on Martin Down. It was built in the Middle Bronze Age, used to some extent by the Romano-British and shows some evidence of settlement outside the enclosure. It lies on a site used in Beaker times.
The enclosure is an irregular, rough rectangle of just over 1 1/2 acres, defined by a bank and external ditch, interrupted by one very wide gap on the uphill and two slighter interruptions.
Some worked flint and pottery was found during the excavation. A Romano-British child had been buried in the ditch.
The present earthwork is the General's reconstruction.
