Late Bronze Age Ritual and Habitation on a Thames Eyot at Whitecross Farm, Wallingford: The Archaeology of the Wallingford Bypass, 1986-92The site at Whitecross Farm, including timber structures located on the edge of the eyot, and a substantial midden and occupation deposit has been securely radiocarbon-dated to the late Bronze Age. The late Bronze Age artefact assemblages are suggestive of a high-status site, with a range of domestic and ritual activities represented. The bank of the Grim's Ditch earthwork was found to have preserved evidence of earlier settlement, dating to the Neolithic and Bronze Age, and a sequence of cultivation, including ard marks and 'cord-rig' cultivation ridges. Pottery and radiocarbon analysis dated the earthwork to the end of the late Iron Age or the early Roman period. A multi-period settlement, consisting of pits, a waterhole, postholes, gullies and field systems, was identified at Bradford's Brook, Cholsey. The main periods represented are late Bronze Age and Romano-British, while a small quantity of Saxon pottery indicates limited Saxon activity. A large pit containing late Bronze Age pottery, a cattle skull, waterlogged wood and plant remains, a complete loomweight and flint flakes has been interpreted as a waterhole. A series of radiocarbon dates were obtained for deposits within this feature. All three sites are discussed individually as well as within their local, regional and national contexts. Chapter 7 provides an overall discussion of later Bronze Age themes that have arisen through the excavation and analysis of these sites. |
Contents
GRIMS DITCH by Anne Marie Cromarty with Alistair Barclay and George Lambrick | 1 |
Excavation objectives 19912 | 5 |
1 A general view looking north of the 1984 trenches and test pits dug to determine | 11 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
alluvial analysis animal bone Archaeol artefacts assemblage average bank Barclay Bradford's Brook Bradley Bronze Age pottery brown burnt channel charred Coleoptera Colour Column 1 Sample Condition Context core and int core grey Corylus avellana cultivation dark grey decoration deposits earthwork edge evidence Ewart Park excavations eyot Fabric F2 Flag Fen flakes flint fragments gravel grey throughout Grim's Ditch hazel indet Iron Age late Bronze Age later loam material metalwork midden middle Bronze Age Mongewell Müll Neolithic occupation layer Oxford Oxfordshire palaeochannel Peterborough Ware phase pieces ploughing ploughsoil Pomoideae possible postholes postpipes pottery prehistoric quartzite Quercus sp radiocarbon recovered retouched rim R9 river Roman Roundwood Runnymede sand sandy seeds settlement sheep/goat shell sherds shoulder silt socket species split structure suggest surface Table Thames Valley tion trench XXIV trimmed Upper Thames vessels Wallingford Ware waterhole waterlogged Whitecross Farm wood Yarnton yellowish-brown