Deverel–Rimbury culture facts for kids

The Deverel–Rimbury culture is a name given to a group of people from the Middle Bronze Age who lived in southern England. We know about them from the things they left behind, like pottery and burial sites. This culture is named after two ancient burial mounds, called barrows, found in Dorset. These people lived between about 1600 BC and 1100 BC.

Who Were the Deverel–Rimbury People?

The people of the Deverel–Rimbury culture were mostly farmers. They grew crops and raised animals like cattle. We know this from the remains of their farms and animal enclosures.

Their Homes and Farms

These people lived in small, round houses. They also built special fences, called palisades, around their cattle enclosures. They used a type of farming system that archaeologists sometimes call "Celtic fields." These were small, square fields, but the name "Celtic" isn't quite right because they existed long before the Celts.

How They Buried Their Dead

When someone died, the Deverel–Rimbury people usually cremated them, meaning they burned the body. They would then place the ashes in special pots called urns. These urns were often buried together in large cemeteries, known as urnfields. Sometimes, they would bury the urns under low, round mounds of earth, which are called barrows. They even placed urns in older barrows that were already there.

What Was Their Pottery Like?

The pottery made by the Deverel–Rimbury people is very special and helps archaeologists identify their sites. They made round pots, called globular vessels, which often had patterns pressed or carved into them. They also made thick, strong pots known as "bucket urns." These bucket urns often had raised bands, or cordons, around them, usually decorated with fingerprints.

The type of clay and materials used in the pottery varied depending on where it was made. In southern England, the pottery often had small pieces of crushed flint mixed into the clay to make it stronger. Further north, in places like East Anglia, they often used crushed pottery (called grog) mixed into the clay instead.

A Changing View of the Past

Today, archaeologists mostly use the term "Deverel–Rimbury" to describe the specific types of pottery found from this time. This is because they now believe that the Deverel–Rimbury culture wasn't just one big group of people who were all exactly the same. Instead, it was probably many different groups living in southern England who shared some similar ways of life and made similar pottery.