More information : [SP 3001 1755] Mound shown but not described. (1)
Excavations are expected to be completed this year on the site
of a Neolithic long barrow near Ascott-under-Wychwood, soon to
disappear under a road-widening scheme on the B.4437.
Chalbury/Burford road. Starting in 1965, work by the Oxford
City and County Museum on behalf of the Ministry of Public
Building and Works has revealed that the barrow seals a number of
distinguishable phases of activity. Such a well-stratified
sequence has not been obtained from any site involving a long
barrow in the country before, and samples taken for radio-carbon
dating from each of the phases should provide an important
reference date for many other British sites.
The earliest phase of activity is Mesolithic, suggested by
finds of flint tools and other stone implements; these may date
to before 3,500 B.C., and are an important addition to our
knowledge of the Mesolithic period in this part of England,
before the establishment of agricultural communities. The next
phase is early Neolithic, with occupation on the site
demonstrated by pottery, stone and flint tools, and areas of
burning, some possibly hearths, one of which was associated with
what may have been some kind of cooking pit. To this phase also
may belong a series of post-holes, but more areas need to be
examined in detail before any definite structure can be
identified. The pottery of this phase is as early and as finely
made as any in the British Neolithic, and comprises a most
important assemblage.
The early Neolithic phase does not seem to have been immediately
followed by the construction of the barrow itself, and there are
indications that the site was under cultivation for a time.
During this period, enough time elapsed for a soil profile to
develop, and this is yielding valuable information about
agricultural activity, vegetation and climate in Neolithic times.
The most important discovery within the barrow last year was that
of at least five discrete, burial deposits, three of which were
contained inside stone cists defined by large stones, arranged in
an unusual manner across the long axis of the barrow towards its
narrower, western end. Provisional totals have reached a
minimum of twenty individuals, many represented only by a few
bones-a feature which is consistent in tombs of the same period in
this country and which is generally attributed to a practice
involving the burial or exposure of corpses elsewhere before
final interment in the barrow. Preliminary examination of the
remains has shown that their deposition took place when the bones
were partially, and in some cases completely, free of tissue
attachments.
Three of the cists contained undisturbed burial deposits. One
cist did not contain burials and there is no reason to suggest
that it had originally done so. The provisional minimum total of
largely disarticulated and incomplete inhumations includes two
further burial deposits placed against the outer stone of the
outer cist on each side of the mound, one being a single
inhumation. Adults and juveniles were recorded from each of the
other burial deposits. One cist contained in addition, some
cremated bones. A number of anatomical anomalies have been
recognised and a leaf shaped flint arrowhead was found solidly
embedded in the lower part of the spine of one individual. Grave
goods comprised one leaf shaped arrowhead, and an incomplete
undecorated Neolithic bowl.
The main periods of interest on the site may range from before
3,000 B.C. to 2,000 B.C., but samples recovered for Carbon 14
dating should provide absolute dates for critical phases. (2)
Ascott-under-Wychwood [SP 300 176]. In a final season the
remainder of the long barrow was removed and the recording of
its external and internal structure was completed. Preliminary
C14 results indicate a date of construction early in the 3rd
millenium B.C. The area between the two pairs of cists located in
1968 on either side of the long axis of the barrow was taken up
by rubble packing; there was no central cist. On top of the
packing, however, was an unaccompanied deposit of disarticulated
bones.
Mechanical stripping on the north side of the barrow mound
revealed a line of quarry pits some IIm outside the outer wall.
Irregular in plan and surface dimensions, these quarries had
been dug to a depth of c. 8 ft 6 in. to 10 ft through extremely
variable subsoil and had been severely undercut in places. Finds
included flint flakes and antler picks, but no pottery. Any
evidence for comparable quarry pits on the south side of the
mound had been removed by nineteenth-century quarrying and the
line of the present road.
A combination of environmental and other evidence indicates
several pre-barrow phases including woodland clearance,
occupation, possible cultivation and, finally, undisturbed
grassland. More small hollows and other features were discovered,
but no convincing pre-barrow structures were identified.
In the Roman period sections of the barrow revetment had been
robbed out. In the area between the Neolithic quarry pits and
the north side of the mound, were numerous shallow quarries
(probably for lime) of the first century A.D. These were sealed
by several ploughsoils of the Late Roman period. (Mr. D. Benson,
Oxford City and County Museum). (3)
The barrow has been completely cleared and its site is marked by
a patch of rough stony pasture.
The anticipated road widening has not yet taken place. (4)
The soil profile beneath the Ascott under Wychwood long barrow is the most intensively studied local sequence and the environmental record stretches back to the early post-glacial times. At first the area had a light woodland cover that gave way to more closed woodland in the 4th millenium BC, and was then cleared in the early 3rd millenium BC. After a brief period as a settlement, the site became grassland until about 2,800 BC, when the barrow was built. A radiocarbon date suggests that the tomb was erected after 2943 +- 70 BC. (5)
The monument through excavation has been shown to be a good surviving example of its class. The full excavation of the monument carried out by Benson between 1965-9 will have removed much if not all of the archaeological remains of the long barrow. As such the case for the monuments national importance cannot be made and scheduling is not recommended. (6)
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