ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the practice of curating large quantities of animal dung to form conspicuous mounds in the Bronze Age. It concentrates in southern Britain, and in particular Wiltshire, these midden sites represent a new scale of communal interaction emerging at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age, between the tenth and sixth centuries cal. The accumulation of animal dung is important as the material is particularly rich in micronutrients and provides the most powerful natural means for fertilizing soils. While cultivation is not the favoured interpretation of these sites, some are viewed as mounds of rubbish that accumulated through large-scale animal husbandry practices. The animal bone assemblage is dominated by sheep, and the apparent emphasis on sheep at the site is reflected in the soil micromorphology. Soil micromorphology undertaken at Potterne and East Chisenbury has demonstrated that cattle and sheep dung, as well as ash, form the largest components of the monuments.
