Banbury Flood Alleviation Scheme, Oxfordshire, Archaeological Evaluation Report

In June 2003 Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out an archaeological field evaluation of the proposed development site near Little Bourton, north east of Banbury, Oxfordshire for Black and Veatch consulting Ltd on behalf of the Environment Agency. Seventy-three trenches were excavated across the development area. Archaeological evidence was concentrated in the central part of the site and dated principally to the Neolithic and Roman periods. A middle to late Neolithic pit was exposed in one trench. In others, a number of ditches were tentatively dated to the Neolithic period on the basis of the finds, including a rare sherd of Peterborough ware. An extensive system of Roman-period ditches and gullies was uncovered representing a farmstead or other small settlement spanning the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. The evaluation also revealed cremation burial and possible placed deposit. More linear features were uncovered in the eastern and northern parts of the site. These were generally undated or isolated, but may have been associated with the concentration of dated archaeology. The archaeological remains, especially those of Neolithic date, are potentially very significant, given the paucity of comparable sites in the region.