Abstract
EXCAVATION of an archaeological site at Frilford in the Vale of White Horse, Berks, has afforded interesting evidence of a succession of cultures during a period, which if not prolonged in archæological perspective, was at least of considerable duration, extending from the early Iron Age to Saxon times. The site lies close to the Oxford-Wantage road, where it crosses the River Ock, and is situated not more than a hundred yards from a well-known cemetery of the Roman and Saxon periods. The excavation, which was undertaken by the Oxford University Archæological Society at the suggestion of Sir Arthur Evans, was carried out during last term by undergraduate members of the Society with the co-operation of Mr. D. R. Harden of the Ashmolean Museum. The evidence of early Iron Age occupation, according to a report in The Times of December 6, is in the form of a series of pits, circular and irregular, dug in the limestone subsoil. These contain Iron Age A2 pottery. In the largest found to date was a large hearth on a clay floor with, among other objects, a polished hammer-stone. In this period the district was remote and backward ; but during the Roman occupation a small but well-built villa was erected on the site. This had a tiled roof and tessellated floor. Unfortunately, seekers after stone in later ages have left little of the walls but the foundation trenches, and the floors have suffered similarly. Samian pottery and coins point to an occupation from the first to the end of the fourth century. If this villa is evidence of the advance of civilization in the area, there are also signs of disturbance, presumably tribal. In the largest pit of the Iron Age a small hoard of late Roman coins, dating from A.D. 370–380, had been buried. In the same pit was a Saxon burial of the sixth or seventh century. The skeleton was well preserved, and with it were a knife and "scramasax". Excavations will be resumed during the Easter term, when it is hoped to determine the date of the villa with greater precision, as well as its relation to the cemetery.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Iron Age Site in the Vale of White Horse, Berks. Nature 140, 1006–1007 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/1401006c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1401006c0