The foundations of a large
Roman masonry building, thought to be part of a villa, have been
found at Bredon's Norton, Worcestershire, during a series of
excavations along a new 17 km water pipeline being built for Severn
Trent Water. The 15 m wide pipeline easement clipped one corner of
the building to reveal a room with a stone-flagged floor, sections of
painted wall plaster, and stone peg-tiles from the roof, all
indicating a building of high quality and status.
Archaeologists at St Brieuc in Normandy reached the bottom of the ditch of the defended Iron Age enclosure, which is 5.5 m deep on the east side. Here there were 1 m of waterlogged deposits, in which archaeologists found numerous amphorae and much wood, as well as layers of leaves.
Furness Abbey sits within a secluded steep-sided valley in the Furness Peninsula, south Cumbria. It was the first, and most important, foundation of the Savigniac Order in Britain. In 1124, Stephen, then Count of Boulogne and Mortain and later King of England, invited a small group of the newly-established congregation from Savigny in Mortain, northern France, to settle in Tulketh near Preston. However, this initial foundation was abandoned after only three years and the community relocated to the site that became Furness Abbey.
After a final push in the run-up to the Christmas deadline, the threat of catastrophic floods, snow, and the addition of a drainage run through the most sensitive (and previously undisturbed) part of site, the CNDR Parcel 27 site was completed on time and under budget (just). Right up until the last minute, the finds jumped out of the slime, and the stratigraphy continued to resolve and reveal itself. Spirits weren’t always high, it has to be said, but, to its credit, the team soldiered on, even though many staff had nothing apart from the dole to look forward to, or worse – France (only kidding!). But we (or rather the team – you know who you are) did it – well done all!
A University of
Southampton archaeologist and Oxford Archaeology have found evidence
that Neanderthals were living in Britain at the start of the last ice
age, 40,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Commissioned by Oxford
Archaeology, the university’s Dr Francis Wenban-Smith discovered
two ancient flint hand tools at the M25 / A2 road junction at
Dartford in Kent, during an excavation funded by the Highways Agency.
Tests on sediment burying the flints show they date from around 100,
000 years ago, proving Neanderthals were living in Britain at this
time. The country was previously assumed to have been uninhabited
during this period.
Oxford Archaeology South has recently been commissioned by English
Heritage to carry out a second large-scale Historic Seascapes Characterisation (HSC) project, following our work in
2006/7 on an area of the Essex and Suffolk coast.
OA
has
been appointed to carry out archaeological investigations during the
construction of the western section of Crossrail. One of the largest
and most complex infrastructure projects in the world Crossrail will
deliver a major new railway running west to east through central
London. With a projected budget of £15.9 bn services are due to open in
2017. OA will work with Crossrail, its project delivery team and the
principal contractors to undertake survey and excavation between
Westbourne Park in the west and Tottenham Court Road in the east. To
deliver these works OA has entered into an innovative partnership with
the engineering consultants Gifford and together, over the next few
years, we are committed to
providing a world class heritage solution for this world class project.
The Royal Australian Mint, in Canberra, held a special event on 20th April 2010. The occasion was the celebration of the release of its new coin - Lost Soldiers of Fromelles.
The work of Oxford Archaeology was recognised by the presentation of one of these coins. Professor Richard Wright, Senior Forensic Adviser to Oxford Archaeology for the Fromelles project, spoke at the event and received the coin on behalf of Oxford Archaeology.
The photo shows Mr Graham Smith (Acting Chief Executive Officer of The Royal Australian Mint) on the left, presenting the coin to Richard Wright.
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