Time Travel World Heritage
Aerial photo of Normanton Down Barrows © English Heritage NMR 18663/19
The linear structure of Normanton Down Barrow cemetery is clear from the air

    
Aerial photo of Normanton Down Barrows © English Heritage NMR 15041/06 Aerial photo of Normanton Down Barrows © English Heritage NMR 18663/19 Objects found at Normanton Down Barrows courtesy of Wiltshire Heritage Museum © English Heritage A gold object found in Bush Barrow © Wiltshire Heritage Museum
Normanton Down Barrows - Burial Preparations in the Neolithic period

The earliest ritual use of this site is most likely to have been the construction of the long barrow between 3400 and 3000BC. Related to it, and dating from roughly the same time, is an enclosure used for preparing the dead for burial.

The body was left in the open air and progressively cleaned of all flesh by the wind and the birds, leaving the bones ready for the burial. This process of de-fleshing is known as 'excarnation'. Despite its purpose, excavations in 1959 failed to discover any human remains in this area.