River of Life North Farm Shillingford Oxfordshire

Between the 14th and 16th of August 2013 Oxford Archaeology excavated five
evaluation trenches on the site of the proposed wetland development 'The River of
Life' at North Farm, Shillingford, Oxfordshire (centred at NGR: SU 5868 9318).
The investigation exposed alluvial deposits in excess of 1.2m depth within four of
the trenches, with the underlying terrace gravel only encountered within one, at a
depth of 1m below the current ground level. No evidence of human activity or peat
deposits was observed within any of these strata.
Evidence of 20th-century made ground directly overlying the alluvium was observed
within the northernmost trench, elsewhere the alluvial deposits were overlaid by
cultivated soils.
No evidence for Romano-British activity alongside the line of the Roman Road was
encountered during the course of the evaluation.
On 29th November 2013 Oxford Archaeology was called out to deal with suspected
human bones revealed during the excavation of an area to create a fenland
environment. The bones proved to belong to a heavily-truncated supine burial, and
was without associated finds. The Oxfordshire Planning Archaeologist Richard
Oram instructed that the burial be left in situ and carefully covered over. One bone
that had already been disturbed was removed for sampling for radiocarbon dating
before being returned to the ground. A date of 370-180 cal BC was obtained on the
bone, placing the burial in the middle Iron Age.
Some 3m to the south a ditch running north-west to south-east was found, and a
small sample excavated by hand. There were no finds, but a sherd of late Iron Age
or early Romano-British pottery was recovered from the surface of the ditch.