Pot from Windmill Hill causewayed enclosure, Avebury

Windmill Hill is a low natural feature at the far north-western corner of the World Heritage Site, approximately one mile from Avebury henge. From at least the eighteenth century it was recognised that there were earthworks there, and by the early 1920s it was established that they were probably Neolithic. Following large-scale excavations between 1925 and 1929 Windmill Hill became one of the sites used by archaeologists to define the southern British Neolithic. This pot, barely larger than a cereal bowl and probably fulfilling a similar function, is just one example from many hundreds of vessels found during the excavations, among many other finds of stone, bone and antler. In its simplicity and the likely nature of its use as an eating bowl, it seems to bring the people who lived at Windmill Hill in that remote time – approximately 5,500 years ago - a little closer to us.
Caption: Rosamund Cleal (National Trust)