Causewayed Camp

A hilltop entrenchment characteristic of Neolithic times, 4th millennium BC, especially in southern Britain. The hilltop was enclosed by a series of concentric ditches, 1-4 in number, with internal banks and which were not continuous but interrupted by solid causeways (undisturbed lanes of earth). Pottery, animal bones, and domestic garbage stratified within the ditches show that the camps were used during the entire Neolithic period. A common theory about the camps' use is as meeting places used at intervals by the population of a wide area.

A type of enclosure found in the earlier Neolithic of southern England (4th millennium bc), consisting of a number of concentric ditches with internal banks. The ditches were rarely continuous, but were interrupted by causeways of untouched ground. Their function is unclear, as there is little evidence of permanent or seasonal occupation. They may have been tribal meeting-places for annual or more frequent fairs, or, alternatively, they may have been ritual sites, as some have evidence for disposal of the dead. See also Windmill Hill.