Monument record 0688500000 - Quarry site W of The Lea, Denham

In advance of mineral extraction, 33 evaluation trenches were dug across the site and proposed access road. The identified features suggest later prehistoric and Romano-British activity relating more to agricultural production than domestic settlement (field boundaries). A Romano British pit was discovered in trench 32, and a pyre site with burnt human bone, charcoal and burnt clay was located in trench 21. A ditch was also located containing 10 sherds of pottery dating from the Bronze Age/early Iron Age (B1).
Subsequent excavation by Cotswold Archaeology in 7 stages during mineral extraction between 2001 and 2010 was published by Thames Valley Archaeological Services in 2018. 5 main phases of archaeological activity were identified, with three sub-phases for the Prehistoric and Roman periods (CAS 0688501000-0688508000). Archaeological features included ditches and gullies of field boundaries, trackways, enclosures, pits, postholes, a ring ditch, corn-driers, hearths, wells, and a cremation and inhumation cemetery with pyre sites and bustam burials.
Some of the earliest features identified were two Bronze Age ring ditches, likely founded in the early-middle Bronze Age, but still focal in the later prehistoric period (later Bronze Age-early Iron Age). A field system of middle Bronze Age date was recorded. The ditches and gullies formed a rectilinear arrangement representing small fields and/or paddocks. It is likely this was also still in use in the later prehirtoric period when a roundhouse was constructed. The site was then re-occupied in the Roman period. Early Roman activity included a field system with the middle Roman sub-phase represented by enclosures and a field system. Late Roman features include enclosures and boundary ditches. One of the enclosures contained a well, an oven and corn-driers. There was also a cemetery which contained pyre sites, inhumations and 'Bustum' cremation burials, a combination which is unusual. The cemetery continued in use into the early Saxon period. Medieval and post-medieval activity included field ditches and a post-medieval trackway. See report for detail (B2).