An Archaeological Dig took place over the weekend of 16th/17th September 2017 with two test pits on The Green and two in the grounds of Mill Cottage.
The finds included pottery, metal items and slag, buttons, coins, pottery, a bottle, glass and ceramic ball bottle stoppers, animal bones, a musket ball, a Bellarmine pottery jug shard, a copper alloy ring, and a Mesolithic worked flint. We also uncovered a lovely 1.2m deep wall.
The finds were cleaned in November (see below) and were properly identified and recorded in December 2017.
More detailed reports have been produced by David Ashby (April 2020) and are available as PDFs these give us a great additional insight into the history and life in the village:
Test Pit 1 Report – Village Green
Test Pit 2 Report – Village Green
Test Pit 3 Report – Mill Cottage
Test Pit 4 Report – Mill Cottage.
Great big thanks go to: Dave Hillsdon Owner and Director, T.V.E Hire Centre , Wantage for loaning, free of charge, most of equipment needed for the dig, to Bampton Garden centre for the finds trays, lots of people in the village for donations of other essential equipment, items and money. A huge thank you to David Ashby BA (Hons), MRes Archaeology, University of Winchester for supervising and guiding us so professionally both before and throughout the weekend. And of course to all the diggers, recorders and visitors and to the Parish Council and Steve & Sue Champion as land owners for letting us dig on their land – without which the dig could not have happened.
Some photos below from Ian Graham, Peter Busby and Steve Champion [click to enlarge and scroll].
You must be logged in to post a comment.