Big Data Institiute Oxford

Between the October 2014 and February 2015 Oxford Archaeology (OA) carried out
a programme of watching briefs and an evaluation as part of the programme of
development of the BDI Building, Oxford University, Oxford. The work was
commissioned by RB Development Management Ltd on behalf of Oxford University
and was carried out during groundworks managed by MACE. The evaluation site
was located on the site of the decant (temporary) accommodation and the watching
briefs were located on the eastern side of the campus (NGR SP 543 062) identified
in the Written Scheme of Investigation as Plots B-4 and B-5.The site is located
within the grounds of Boundary Brook House and is bounded by Roosevelt Drive to
the South and Old Road to the North. It was originally agreed that two 50 m long
trenches would be excavated to sample Plots B-5 and B-4. However, due to the
quantity of groundworks that were monitored in Plot B-4, it was decided by the City
Archaeologist that the proposed Trench 2 excavation was no longer necessary to
sample this area.
The watching brief was generally successful in establishing the presence/absence,
extent, conditions, nature, character and quality of archaeological remains
encountered. In Plot B-4, the service trench for the substation had a number of
features seen in section which had no artefacts recovered. A further trench running
from the fence and across a car park was found to contain a shallow pit which had a
piece of 18th century pottery. The substation foundation excavations revealed
modern backfill. The pad pits for the new build were largely empty apart from Pit 3
where an undated posthole was found and Pit 7 where a possible undated irregular
negative feature was identified.
In Plot B-5, two negative features that contained modern building material and
disused service trenches were the only archaeological features found in the 50 m
long evaluation trench