Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Roman settlement at Dunmore Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire

Excavations at Dunmore Road, Abingdon, uncovered activity dating between
the early–middle Bronze Age and the early Roman period. An early–middle
Bronze Age oven was radiocarbon dated and included a regionally significant
assemblage of Biconical Urn pottery. Late Bronze Age activity was ephemeral
but included one or possibly two cremation burials and a small amount of
residual pottery.
The main phase of activity consisted of occupation from the early Iron Age to
the early Roman period. The earliest settlement was represented by a series
of post-built and ditched roundhouses, pits, a four- and a six-post structure.
Middle Iron Age activity was represented primarily by a series of enclosures
accompanied by an inhumation burial and several pits. One of the enclosures
was recut in the late Iron Age and a larger adjoining enclosure was established
during this time. The larger enclosure was recut three times in the early
Roman period, which also saw the construction of a probable masonry
building that appears to have been entirely robbed. The site was abandoned
early in the 2nd century.
A previously unknown Roman road, flanked by ditches c 20–28m apart and
consisting of up to two layers of metalling, was found extending across the
site. Projection of the road alignment connects it northwards to the Roman
road between Wantage and Oxford, and southwards to the late Iron Age
oppidum and Roman nucleated settlement at Abingdon. No road has
previously been found that links Abingdon to the main Roman road network.
Activity ceased in the early 2nd century, around the time of settlement and
landscape reorganisation observed more widely in the Abingdon area at this
time. The road does not appear to have been refurbished after this time, and
the extent to which it continued in use through the later Roman period is
unknown.
Medieval furrows crossed the site on the same alignment as the Iron Age and
early Roman enclosures and perpendicular to the Roman road. This suggests
that although the Iron Age and Roman settlement had ceased as an
occupation site, its presence appears to have influenced the subsequent
layout and use of the site.