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ETON WICK CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE

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The site of an Early Neolithic causewayed enclosure at Eton Wick. It lies on gravels less than 1 km from the present north bank of the Thames. Its identification was confirmed by small-scale excavation and fieldwalking in 1984-5. Air photographs show three concentric arcs of causewayed ditch. A narrow feature between the closely spaced middle and outer ditches may be a palisade. To the north this follows the line of a tangential ditch with at least one causeway, which joins the middle ditch. No complete circuits are visible, at least partly because of alluvium and later activity. The south-west side may have been formed by a stream which runs directly into the Thames.
The cropmarks were plotted and interpreted by RCHME in 1996 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. Assuming a regular shape and a complete enclosure, the area enclosed would have been roughly 4 hectares. The inner curved ditch is 100 metres long; the outer lies 30 to 40 metres east and is 200 metres long. The middle and outer ditches remain unexcavated. Other features on excavation were proved to be Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age in date. The excavations recovered lithic and ceramic material which confirmed the Neolithic date of the causewayed enclosure. Recent research into the radiocarbon dating of causewayed enclosures suggests that the construction of the inner ditch probably occurred in 3520-3455 cal BC.

DETAIL

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MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

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SU 950781. A Neolithic causewayed enclosure was discovered at Eton Wick following the examination of an aerial photograph in 1976. A trial trench in 1984 discovered a Late Bronze Age - Early Iron Age ditch. A second trench in 1985 revealed a ditch terminal containing neolithic pottery, 950 struck flints, an antler comb and animal bones. (1)

Additional bibliography. (2,3,4)

The following features were mapped from good quality air photographs and small scale excavation (6):-

Possible Neolithic causewayed enclosure, seen as cropmarks. Morphological description: interrupted, parallel linear features, each defined by 2 ditches with a maximum length of 170m. Centred at:-SU 9503 7812. Additional NGRs: SU 9499 7812 (Morph No. TG.545.1.1). The research excavations in 1984-5 on this enclosure produced Ebbsfleet Ware,flints, animal bone and an antler comb. 3 C14 dates (2800 +/- 80 b.c., 2730 +/- 110 b.c., 2730 +/- 50 b.c.).(6)

Possible ditch of unknown date, seen as cropmarks. Morphological description: a discontinuous, single linear feature, defined by 1ditch with a maximum length of 40m. Centred at:-SU 9503 7810. Additional NGRs: SU 9506 7822 (Morph No. TG.545.8.1). This ditch may be the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age ditch excavated in 1984. This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (5)

The Neolithic causewayed enclosure described by the previous authorities was plotted at 1:2,500 scale in September 1996 by Aerial Survey staff of RCHME as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. Only the south-eastern side of the enclosure is visible as a cropmark and this is obscured in places by overlapping features which are probably later in date. The enclosure comprises a curved, segmented ditch, 100m long, centred at SU 9496 7807 and a second segmented ditch, 200m long,
between 30-40m to the east at SU 9503 7809. A very faint cropmark 10m to the east of the outer ditch may be the remains of a third ditch circuit. A continuous ditch lies between the two outer segmented ditches and this has been dated to the later Bronze Age/early Iron Age. (7)

Fieldwalking and trial trenching in 1984-5 confirmed the Neolithic dating of the causewayed enclosure, with other features belonging to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age and to the Late Iron Age. Artefacts recovered were primarily lithic and ceramic in nature. Three radiocarbon dates from bone samples in Neolithic contexts, when calibrated, have ranges which span the period 3771-3100 Cal BC. (8)

Additional reference. (9)

Recent research into the radiocarbon dating of causewayed enclosures suggests that the construction of the inner ditch probably occurred in 3520-3455 cal BC. (10)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society

Ford, S. A newly-discovered causewayed enclosure at Eton Wick, near Windsor, Berkshire. 52, 1986 Page(s)319-20

( 2) Council for British Archaeology Group 12: Newsletter

October 1984 Page(s)9

( 3) Council for British Archaeology Group 12: Newsletter

October 1985 Page(s)11

( 4) Berkshire Archaeological Society The Berkshire archaeological journal

72, 1983-5 Page(s)80

(5) RCHME/EH/HE Aerial Photographers comment

Moraig Brown/09-MAR-1993/RCHME: Thames Valley NMP

(6) by Robin Holgate 1988 Neolithic settlement of the Thames Basin

British Archaeological Report (BAR) British series1 (1974) - 194 Page(s)341

(7) RCHME/EH/HE Aerial Photographers comment

Carolyn Dyer/12-SEP-1996/RCHME: Eton Wick Causewayed Enclosure Project

(8) Berkshire Archaeological Society The Berkshire archaeological journal

Ford, S. Excavations at Eton Wick (& fiche) 74, 1991-3 Page(s)27-36

(9) A Oswald, C Dyer, M Barber 2001 The Creation of Monuments: Neolithic Causewayed Enclosures in the British Isles

Page(s)8

(10) Alasdair Whittle, Alex Bayliss and Frances Healy 2011 Gathering Time: Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland

Chapter 8.2 Eton Wick 1 Page(s)393-395

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MONUMENT NO. 1024060
ETON

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Probable enclosure of unknown date seen as cropmarks.

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