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TQ5701
One of the main features on top of the scarp slope of the South Downs near Eastbourne is the abundance of archaeological remains relating to the Neolithic Period and the Bronze Age. Many of the more visible archaeological remains, like Barrows, were dug by local landowners in Victorian times with any grave goods being removed as trophies. Many excavated barrows can be identified by the collapsed top which results in a feature resembling a pocket sized volcano and crater.
The archaeological excavation at TQ5701 in 2020, by Heritage Eastbourne, is part of an ongoing series of annual digs to unearth, explore and understand more of the ancient past in the local area. The dig in TQ5701 is thought to reveal a Neolithic enclosure similar to that on Combe Hill in TQ5702. The Butts Brow archaeological site is thought to predate that of Combe Hill but this view is based on site evidence and not radiocarbon dating. It is not thought that the Butts Brow site is a settlement where people lived on a permanent basis but rather that it was a place where people came together and made such things as useful objects from flint. Recovered evidence from the site debitage shows that while flint cores from which useful tools like scrapers were struck still remain, the useful finished products have been removed.
It seems likely that the archaeological site at Butts Brow was similar to the enclosed causeway at nearby Combe Hill. These sites may have been used for the production of flint tools and weapons or they may also have served as meeting places where people talked about communal projects like clearing woodland for agriculture.
There is a Scheduled Monument of an ancient field system covering an area approximately 10 acres in size which lies partly in TQ5701 though this may relate more to the Bronze Age. The fields are contour lynchets with cross banks. The ditch and bank round Butts Brow is another large project which would have required a communal effort. At the top of Butts Brow, there is a possible barrow which the team from Heritage Eastbourne plan to excavate next year. The Heritage Eastbourne team hope that by their efforts the Butts Brow site will become officially recognised as a Scheduled Monument. A major discussion point relating to the archaeological investigation at the Butts Brow site and the Combe Hill site is that the purpose and function of these earthworks is still to be fully determined.
TQ5701 : Beehive Plantation archaeological excavation on Butts BrowTQ5701 : Main, archaeological trench at Butts Brow, 2020TQ5701 : Creation of a new landscape at Butts Brow archaeological siteTQ5701 : Backfilling of excavated material at the end of a dig on Butts BrowTQ5701 : Bronze Age Field System seen from Butts Brow