Editing Coldrum Long Barrow (section)

===Post-mortem deposition===

[[File:Coldrum Long Barrow 35.jpg|thumb|right|One of the kerb stones on the northern side of the monument]]

Cut-marks were identified on some of the bones (two [[femora]], two [[Hip bone|innominates]], and one cranium), with osteoarchaeological specialists suggesting that these had been created post-mortem as the bodies were dismembered and the bones removed from their attached ligaments. They further suggested that the absence of cut-marks on certain bones suggested that the body had already undergone partial decomposition or the removal of soft tissues prior to dismemberment.{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1pp=7–8}} The precision of the cut-marks suggests that this dismemberment was done carefully; "they do not suggest frenzied hacking or mutilation."{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=8}} None of the criteria that osteoarchaeologists deem diagnostic of [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] were found on the bones.{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=9}}

This cut-marked human bone assemblage represented the largest yet identified from within a Neolithic long barrow in southern Britain, although similar evidence for dismemberment has been found from other Neolithic British sites, such as West Trump, Eyford, Aldestrop, and Haddenham.{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=8}} There are two possibilities for how this material developed. The first is that the bodies of the dead were [[excarnation|excarnated]] or exposed to the elements, followed by a secondary burial within the tomb. The second is that they were placed in the tomb, where the flesh decomposed, before the bodies were then rearranged within the tomb itself.{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=9}} These practices may have been accompanied by other ritualistic or ceremonial practices, direct evidence for which does not survive.{{sfnm|1a1=Wysocki|1a2=Griffiths|1a3=Hedges|1a4=Bayliss|1y=2013|1p=9}}

The inclusion of occupational debris like ceramic sherds over the bones was not unique to the site but common in chambered tombs from southern England.{{sfn|Ashbee|1998|p=34}} On the basis of an example discovered at Kit's Coty House, Ashbee thought it apparent that the contents of the Coldrum's chamber would have been compartmentalised by medial slabs, which served the same purpose as the side chambers of West Kennet and Wayland's Smithy.{{sfn|Ashbee|1998|p=34}}