Wor Barrow

Wor Barrow is a Neolithic long barrow on Cranborne Chase, near Sixpenny Handley in Dorset. Excavated by Augustus Pitt Rivers in 1893-94, it was the first Neolithic long barrow completely excavated and recorded to modern standards. Radiocarbon dating places the primary burials in the 37th century BC. Six adult males under 45 were found within a timber mortuary enclosure, along with "Burial 8" -- Britain's earliest known mummy, a body preserved for 30-130 years before deposition, with a flint arrowhead lodged between the ribs. The barrow had two construction phases: first a rectangular ditched mortuary enclosure, then a chalk mound covering the entire structure.