Data from an Archaeological Recording at Three Bridge Mill, Twyford, Buckinghamshire, 2021-2022 (HS2 Phase One)
INFRA Archaeology, High Speed Two Ltd., 2023. https://doi.org/10.5284/1124379. How to cite using this DOI
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 5013
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1124379
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises of reports, images, GIS data and site records from an archaeological recording carried out by INFRA Archaeology at Three Bridge Mill, Twyford, Buckinghamshire between May 2021 and October 2022.
Project Summary
The aims for the Archaeological Recording across the Site were to:
- Confirm and record the presence/absence, extent and depth of any surviving archaeological remains within the Site;
- Confirm and record the presence, extent and character of any areas of Late Iron Age/Roman domestic activity/settlement within the Site;
- Place the Site within the historic landscape, with particular emphasis on its development, function(s) and evolution (e.g. ironworking, food processing, funerary activity and period of use/continuity);
- Establish how the Site is perceived as an interacting element of a wider working landscape;
- Understand more of the possible Roman trackway network across the Site and if this may relate to the wider Roman infrastructure of the surrounding landscape;
- Determine if any further funerary remains are present within the Site;
- Determine if the Site has any specific, specialised function which might be comparable to other Late Iron Age/Roman settlements along the route;
- To confirm and record the origin of any domestic activity and its continuation through the periods;
- Investigate the character and manifestation of the transition from the Iron Age to the Roman period in the archaeological record;
- To investigate geophysical anomalies not sufficiently targeted by the previous trial trench evaluation;
- To understand the impact of agricultural regimes on earlier activity
The excavation also sought to the delivery of the following GWSI: HERDS Specific Objectives:
- KC15: Can we identify regional patterns in the form and location of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement across the route, and are there associated differences in landscape organisation and enclosure?
- KC18: Explore the evidence for increasing social complexity in the archaeological record in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age, and to identify patterns of intra-regional and regional variation.
- KC19: The Romano-British period saw the beginning of a more established infrastructure network. Can we investigate the development of these routes, trackways and roads and the influence they had on landscape change?
- KC20: Investigate the changing nature of funerary rites in the Late Iron Age and Romano-British periods. What evidence is there that the adoption of new rites or changes in existing practices are the result of the movement of people, contact with new ideas, or even new religions?
- KC21: Assess the evidence for regional and cultural distinctiveness along the length of the route in the Romano-British period, with particular regard to the different settlement types encountered along the route.
- KC23: Identify evidence for late Roman occupation and attempt to identify any continuity in settlement patterns between the end of the Romano-British period and the Early Medieval period.
- KC47: Test and develop geophysical survey methodologies.
Re-Use Value Statement
The results of the excavation were numerous and in the case of the Roman wooden figurine of national importance. Thus the dataset provided should be integrated with any future work in the region, particular studies focusing on Roman archaeology, and has the potential for further analysis in the following areas:
- Absolute carbon dating on well-contexted samples.
- A full and detailed analysis of the pottery assemblage, could produce valuable insights into the nature and development of rural sites from the 1st to 5th centuries and increase our understanding of pink grog temper ware industries.
- Further analysis, illustration, and conservation of the waterlogged wooden figurine artefact.
- Analysis of the burnt clay assemblage to add to our understanding of the sites internal differentiations/phases.
- Environmental analysis of the waterlogged ditch samples <92, 100, 101, 113>.
- Analysis of the slag from ditch 892.
- Full analysis of the small human remains assemblage.
