Curator's Choice

This enormous slab was once part of a Bronze Age burial site – it formed one side of a stone-lined chamber (cist) containing human cremations which had been covered over with a circular mound of earth about 4000 years ago.

Apart from what it tells us about the about the society that made it, there are a huge number of intriguing questions about it, to which we will never know the answers! When you combine this with the story of its discovery it becomes even more fascinating.

Both its size (nearly 2m wide) and appearance make it stand out immediately and the carvings on the surface, especially the feet, draw people to it.

What’s really interesting is that none of these would have been visible once the mound had been constructed – in fact they decorated one of the inner walls of the chamber.

When the mound was excavated at Pool Farm (West Harptree, Somerset) in 1930 the carvings weren’t noticed, which is not that surprising as they are hard to see unless they are well-lit or coloured in (as they are here for display).

At the time I don’t think the excavators even contemplated that anything like this would be found. All the stones forming the chamber were of different types and this sandstone slab is the only one that is carved.

The mound itself was completely removed and the earth used for road widening, which in itself is something that would almost certainly never be allowed to happen to a protected site today.

Stonehenge carvings

The stone chamber remained in situ but it wasn’t until the discovery of carvings at Stonehenge in 1953 that it was re-examined and its own carvings discovered.

The slab was replaced on-site with a replica and brought to Bristol Museum to be displayed in what was then a new archaeology gallery.

At least two people were cremated and buried in the chamber: an adult aged between 30-40 years old at death and a child aged between three and eight years old.

Radiocarbon tests on two fragments of bone suggest that the remains date to about 1980-1765 and 1920-1735 BC. So we know what it was used for and when it was built, but what we don’t know is why the stone was decorated this way.

The foot carvings themselves are almost unique in the British archaeological record but the other circular shapes (cupmarks) are more standard.

Do the feet represent those individuals who were buried there or their mourners or both? Perhaps they represent the journey from this life to the next, or an achievement, or the passage of time.

The multi-sized feet are randomly placed with splayed out toes  - how significant is this? Are some of the small feet really representations of hands?

A 10-year-old local primary school pupil told me recently that she thought the stone looked “ a bit like a prehistoric dance mat” and who’s to say that’s not the case, especially if the positioning of the feet represents a sequence of movements associated with a now lost burial rite.

The enigmatic qualities of the carvings are clearly as fascinating as the facts and an exploration of their possible meanings limitless and that’s why I like it so much!

You will be able to see the stone slab in a new exhibition space at the City Museum in 2009.

Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery is in Queen's Road at the top of Park Street and is open 10am - 5pm seven days a week. Entry is free.