A40 North Oxford Bypass Archaeological Evaluation Report volume 1. June 1993

The archaeological evaluation trenching survey was conducted by the Oxford Archaeological Unit (OAU) during March and May 1993 and was commissioned by Rendel Palmer and Tritton on behalf of the Department of Transport. This formed part of the study being carried out to assess the environmental impact of the proposed 440 North Oxford Bypass.
The survey brief was approved by the Department of Transport and their advisors English Heritage. The brief involved an archaeological evaluation to establish the
location, extent, condition, character, quality, integrity and date of any archaeological remains within the area of land required for the Preferred Route, in order to enable
the full archaeological implications of the development proposal to be understood.
A desk top study (OAU 1992c), reviewed existing archaeological data. A surface collection survey was carried out over areas where the land proved suitable and
access was granted. A geophysical survey was conducted over available pasture and arable areas (OAU 1993).
The present evaluation consisted of sample trenching to establish the presence or absence of archaeological deposits, along the line of the proposed road. The
evaluation was complemented by an earlier archaeological inspection of all geotechnical test pits excavated by Soil Mechanics on behalf of Rendel Palmer and
Tritton. A limited resistivity survey was also conducted over the site of Cutteslowe
Deserted Medieval Village to locate and define areas of significant archaeological
potential.
This report is published in two volumes with Volume II containing the illustrations
that accompany the text (Volume I). The route has been divided into six zones and
the results are presented according to these divisions for sections 2-4 of the report.
The fieldwork results are summarised in section 4. Detailed results are given in sections 6-11 and are in trench number order for ease of reference.The area of Later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement activity, first detected
on a gravel island at the western margins of the study area during the archaeological trenching evaluation conducted for the A40 Witney - Cassington improvements (OAU 1992c; gaz. no.044) was further defined by
trench 101 which produced three small pits. Discovery of a grave containing the remains of a crouched human skeleton (trench 102) would suggest the presence of Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age burial elements. It is not
known whether this represents a single inhumation or part of a larger
cemetery.