Yarnton, Oxfordshire

The Oxford Archaeological Unit completed a fifth major excavation season. Gravel extraction by ARC has provided the opportunity to examine an extensive floodplain and adjacent gravel terrace landscape and chart its development from the Neolithic to the medieval period. Of particular note is the survival on the floodplain of a wide range of Neolithic and Bronze Age features, including domestic sites, which are associated with good environmental evidence. One of the aims of fieldwork was to examine funerary activity from these periods. A Neolithic long enclosure was exposed which had been sited within a grazed clearing in woodland. It was originally c 65m long by 25m wide, but its eastern end has been quarried away. The ditch had been excavated as a single operation, with an entrance in the centre of the southern side, and an internal bank. The function of the enclosure was not immediately evident, but similar features at Dorchester on Thames show that they were associated with burial practices, including exposure of the dead, and suggest that they are related to small enclosures which are sometimes found beneath Neolithic long barrows. Analysis of the magnetic susceptibility and phosphate surveys undertaken over the interior may shed some light on this issue. Recutting of the enclosure ditch near the entrance, and the positioning of posts within it, took place later in the Neolithic.

A striking aspect of this site was its use for burial and special activities from the time of its construction until the middle Bronze Age. Other parts of Yarnton floodplain are dotted with pits and postholes of a domestic nature, but the only features found in this area were burials or pits containing 'special' deposits (for example a pit lined with sherds from a decorated pottery vessel), many of which contained cremated bone. A cremation deposit was found within the centre of the enclosure itself and an inhumation lay to the west of the entrance. A Beaker grave 20 metres north of the enclosure contained the crouched body of a man with a fine Beaker vessel which contained a smaller and cruder Beaker and a flint scraper; 6 barbed-and-tanged arrowheads were found beneath his hip, where they had probably lain within a pouch. An inhumation lay in the top of the enclosure ditch and 7 other cremations were found nearby. During the late Bronze Age the site seems to have lost its special status and 2 small settlement sites were located here, comprising single, circular post-built structures surrounded by a scatter of pits. At around this time (c 800 BC) the water table was rising and soon afterwards the floodplain seems to have been abandoned.

Excavation also took place on the earliest part of a permanent, nucleated settlement which was established on the nearby higher gravel terrace, possibly because of wetter conditions on the floodplain. Here, on Cresswell Field, the much more substantial remains of late Bronze Age to middle Iron Age occupation were recovered, including the remains of circular, post-built structures, gullies, fencelines, and numerous pits, including deep grain-storage pits. Well-preserved artefacts included a complete iron adze head, part of a jet earring, and bone objects including horse gear. Some features were found containing deliberate deposits, including a human skull, whole and partial animal burials, and smashed, highly decorated pots.

The presence on Cresswell Field of a small U-shaped Neolithic enclosure was completely unsuspected. A deep, probably Beaker, grave discovered in the open end of the enclosure contained the body of a woman buried in a wooden coffin. An infant burial lay in a pit adjacent to it and an adult inhumation was found nearby. Equally unexpected was the presence of Saxon occupation. A timber hall, associated fence lines, 3 sunken-featured buildings, and 2 large, ditched enclosures were found. Finds included weaving equipment, but only 1 sherd of Saxon pottery.