Hambledon Hill

Major prehistoric site in Dorset, England, with occupation spanning over 5,000 years. The earliest phase (c. 3680-3630 BC) comprised Neolithic causewayed enclosures used for seasonal gatherings, feasting, and mortuary rituals, where human skulls were placed at ditch bottoms as possible ancestral offerings. Excavations by Roger Mercer in the 1970s-80s uncovered a young man killed by an arrow during the burning of timber defences, evidence of early British conflict. The Iron Age hillfort (c. 600 BC) expanded to 125,000 square metres with multiple circuits of banks and ditches, housing hundreds of small round houses before abandonment around 300 BC. Now owned by the National Trust, it is one of the best-preserved Neolithic landscapes in Europe.