Excavations At Barrow Hills, Radley, Oxfordshire, 1983-5

Excavation between 1983-5 at Barrow Hills, Radley, Oxfordshire recorded three distinct phases of activity: a prehistoric monument complex (already published in Volume 1), a Romano-British cemetery and an early Anglo-Saxon settlement. The Romano-British cemetery consisted of 69 burials dating to the 3rd and 4th centuries and occurring as distinct burial groups and isolated graves; both inhumations and cremations were found. The report considers the evidence for the organisation of the cemetery, orientation, age and sex, body position, decapitation, coffins, inhumation versus cremation, grave goods, chronology and location. The Anglo-Saxon settlement was composed of post-built structures, sunken-featured buildings, two inhumations, pits, debris dumped into the prehistoric barrow ditches and various other features. The settlement is dated by finds evidence to the 4th - early 7th centuries. The Anglo-Saxon features at the nearby site of Barton Court Farm may have been part of the same settlement. The finds and archaeological deposits are described in a series of gazetteers.