Oxoniensia 62

Presents a synthesis of recent work on the LBA/IA in the Oxford region in the light of new discoveries and changes in archaeological thinking over the past two decades.

Two barrows, an IA enclosure, and a number of other archaeological features were excavated in advance of quarrying. The barrows produced evidence for secondary funerary activity, but no primary burials were identified. Evidence for limited MIA and LIA occupation associated with the enclosure was also recovered. There are notes on `Prehistoric pottery and fired clay' (64--73) and `Roman and later pottery' (73) both by Alistair Barclay. `Worked flint' by Andrew Brown (73--80), `The human bone' by Angela Boyle (80--1), `The animal bone' by Bob Wilson (81--2).

An evaluation in 1993 revealed evidence of possible RB activity and medieval buildings. Subsequent excavation in 1994 revealed evidence of IA activity, plot boundary walls relating to the medieval village, the footings of post-medieval estate buildings and a recently demolished nineteenth-century building. In the event, the only evidence of Roman activity recovered in the excavation was a small quantity of residual pottery. There is an `Appendix: the Iron Age pottery' by P Booth (104--7).

Metal objects and bones found near Magdalen Bridge in 1884 are reinterpreted as the likely remains of a Viking warrior and his horse, buried on an island in the Cherwell around the year AD 1000. Though the date seems late, furnished equestrian burial continued in Scandinavia until c 1000. It is significant that the burial was so close to St Clement's, the possible site of a Cnut-period Danish `garrison'.

A synthesis of the results of recent archaeological studies which found thirteenth-century occupation, evidence for Friars of the Sack and Greyfriars, and the later development of the area as a pleasure garden and nursery. These is a note on the `Pottery' by Lucy Whittingham (159--60).

Work during 1994 produced evidence for a continuous series of extra-mural occupation beginning in the late twelfth century. Two areas in the rear of the two properties were exposed, containing a series of intercutting pits filled with domestic debris, and parts of two successive buildings of medieval and late medieval date. The earlier thirteenth-century building was a sunken-floored structure, built in timber and stone, which may have been a detached cellar behind buildings on the frontage. The latter, possibly of fourteenth-century date, was probably part of Batayl Hall, known from documentary sources. Two large fourteenth-century ?bread ovens were found in the adjacent property to the north. Lack of fifteenth-century finds may indicate a hiatus in occupation. A large number of pits indicate use of the site from the sixteenth century onwards. Notable finds include a unique assemblage of worked human bone from the nineteenth-century fill in a stone-lined pit, and a mammoth's tusk recovered from the Quaternary gravel during the watching brief. There are separately authored notes on: the `Historical background' by Julian Munby (181--2); `The metalwork' by R Montague (198--200); `The ceramic and stone building material' by R Montague & L Mepham (208--10); `The human bone' by Jacqueline I McKinley (210--12); `Environmental evidence -- the animal bone' by Sheila Hamilton-Dyer (212--16); and `The charred plant remains from ovens 166 and 167' by Pat Hinton (216).

Details fourteenth-century alterations as a way of illustrating the pattern of transmission of artistic trends from London to the provinces through the social aspirations of the wealthy and the mediating influence of local workshops.

Arranged by period, then site in alphabetical order, finds from seven museums are documented.

Minute books from 1909 to 1971 and a volume of miscellaneous papers shed light on the Society's antecedents and history.