1116104. Cite this using datacite

Title:

Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Roman settlement at Dunmore Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Series:

Oxford Archaeological Unit unpublished report series

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Biblio Note

This report was uploaded to the OASIS system by the named Publisher. The report has not been reviewed by the relevant HER. The report has been transferred into the ADS Library for public access and to facilitate future research.

Licence Type:

ADS Terms of Use and Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5284/1116104

Publication Type:

Report (in Series)

Abstract:

The fieldwork methodology is presented in detail in the WSI following OA’s standard approach to excavation and recording (OA 2018a) in line with national guidelines (CIfA 2014a). In brief, c 2.48ha was stripped for open-area excavation to investigate the Iron Age/Roman activity discovered during the previous geophysical survey and evaluation trenching (Fig. 2). The topsoil and subsoils were removed by a mechanical digger fitted with toothless ditching bucket under archaeological supervision. Soil was removed until the first archaeological horizon or the natural geology was reached A pre-excavation plan showing all revealed features was produced by digital survey. Data-capture for site plans was taken for reproduction at a scale of 1:100, with complex features or areas of complex archaeological remains recorded at greater resolution (for reproduction at 1:10, 1:20, or 1:50 as necessary). All plans were established relative to the Ordnance Survey National Grid and all levels were taken relative to Ordnance Datum. A sufficient sample of the revealed features was investigated by hand to establish their character and date. The level of hand excavation was agreed with Oxfordshire Planning Archaeologists, Hugh Coddington and Richard Oram, during continual on-site monitoring meetings. In most cases the following excavation percentages were followed: i. Structural features – 100% ii. Features relating to specialist activity – 100% iii. Burial contexts (in consultation with OA’s Heritage Burials Services and under license from the Ministry of Justice) – 100% iv. Discrete features not relating to specialist activity – 50% v. Linear features – 10% or 10m, whichever was greater Excavations at Dunmore Road, Abingdon, uncovered activity dating between the early–middle Bronze Age and the early Roman period. An early–middle Bronze Age oven was radiocarbon dated and included a regionally significant assemblage of Biconical Urn pottery. Late Bronze Age activity was ephemeral but included one or possibly two cremation burials and a small amount of residual pottery. The main phase of activity consisted of occupation from the early Iron Age to the early Roman period. The earliest settlement was represented by a series of post-built and ditched roundhouses, pits, a four- and a six-post structure. Middle Iron Age activity was represented primarily by a series of enclosures accompanied by an inhumation burial and several pits. One of the enclosures was recut in the late Iron Age and a larger adjoining enclosure was established during this time. The larger enclosure was recut three times in the early Roman period, which also saw the construction of a probable masonry building that appears to have been entirely robbed. The site was abandoned early in the 2nd century. A previously unknown Roman road, flanked by ditches c 20–28m apart and consisting of up to two layers of metalling, was found extending across the site. Projection of the road alignment connects it northwards to the Roman road between Wantage and Oxford, and southwards to the late Iron Age oppidum and Roman nucleated settlement at Abingdon. No road has previously been found that links Abingdon to the main Roman road network. Activity ceased in the early 2nd century, around the time of settlement and landscape reorganisation observed more widely in the Abingdon area at this time. The road does not appear to have been refurbished after this time, and the extent to which it continued in use through the later Roman period is unknown. Medieval furrows crossed the site on the same alignment as the Iron Age and early Roman enclosures and perpendicular to the Roman road. This suggests that although the Iron Age and Roman settlement had ceased as an occupation site, its presence appears to have influenced the subsequent layout and use of the site.

Author:

Alex Davies

Publisher:

Oxford Archaeology

Year of Publication:

2021

Locations:

Parish:	St Helen Without
District:	Vale of White Horse
Country:	England
County:	Oxfordshire

Grid Reference: 449169, 198767 (Easting, Northing)

Subjects / Periods:

NEOLITHIC LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Tag)

ROAD (Monument Type England)

ENCLOSURE (Monument Type England)

MIDDLE IRON AGE INHUMATION (Tag)

MIDDLE IRON AGE ENCLOSURE (Tag)

EXCAVATION (Event)

EARLY IRON AGE SETTLEMENT (Tag)

LITHIC IMPLEMENT (Object England)

URN (Object England)

IRON AGE SHERD (Tag)

ROMAN ROAD (Tag)

SHERD (Object England)

EARLY BRONZE AGE URN (Tag)

BOWL (Object England)

INHUMATION (Monument Type England)

SETTLEMENT (Monument Type England)

ROMAN SHERD (Tag)

NEOLITHIC BOWL (Tag)

BRONZE AGE SHERD (Tag)

IRON AGE (Historic England Periods)

EARLY BRONZE AGE (Historic England Periods)

BRONZE AGE (Historic England Periods)

ROMAN (Historic England Periods)

MIDDLE IRON AGE (Historic England Periods)

EARLY IRON AGE (Historic England Periods)

NEOLITHIC (Historic England Periods)

Identifiers:

OASIS Id:

oxfordar1-514524

Source:

OASIS (OASIS)

Relations:

Created Date:

30 Nov 2023