Bewes Hill, cist with skeleton and Food Vessel

HER Number:
601

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Bewes Hill, cist with skeleton and Food Vessel

Place:
Bewes Hill

Map Sheet:
NZ16SE

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Funerary Site

Site Type: Specific:
Cist

General Period:
Prehistoric

Specific Period:
Bronze Age

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
A cist burial was found on 15 Nov. 1939 on the site of the petrol station at Bewes Hill near Blaydon and emptied by G.W. Temperley of Hancock Museum. Photographs of the cist show that the underside of its capstone bore an incised U-shaped groove, c. 2" wide and set about 3" from the edge of the stone. The cist probably contained a single skeleton with a pottery vessel and flint flake. The cist was eventually erected in the grounds of the Ryton UDC offices and there is an unconfirmed report that it passed to the Museum of Antiquities on 5 June 1972. The Food Vessel is described as in pink buff fabric, 210 mm high, and with the diam of rim 180 mm, of base 90 mm. it has a bulbous body with a carination and concave neck but no collar. The neck and body are decorated with scored cross-hatching, the rim with whipped cord. Its present location is uncertain: possible locations include the Museum of Antiquities, the Hancock Museum and Sunderland Museum.

Easting:
1707

Northing:
6301

Grid Reference:
NZ17076301

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 601 >> Ordnance Survey archaeological record cards, J.H. Ostridge, 1952, Bronze Age cist... W.A. Cocks, Cocks' letters etc. - Gateshead Library Local Studies Museum of Antiquities Accession Cards, 1972, Bewes Hill Cist, 1972.34 H R. Miket, 1984, The Prehistory of Tyne and Wear, p. 24 no. 9