Monument record 0210102000 - EAST OF BOVENEY VILLAGE Site X: Excavation areas 1, 2 and 3

Dimensions - Radius 0007 m
Plan Form - ANNULAR
RING DITCH SITUATED ON GRAVEL ISLAND S OF ISLAND ON WHICH RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE SITS. APPEARS ABOVE FLOODWATER ON 1947 APS SO IS PROBABLY THE REMAINS OF A PLOUGHED OUT BRONZE AGE ROUND BARROW. EVALUATION FOR ROWING LAKE FAILED TO LOCATE RING DITCH. A FURTHER GRAVEL ISLAND HERE PRODUCED EVIDENCE FOR REMAINS OF A PREHISTORIC TOPSOIL WITH LATE BRONZE AGE FINDS. ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE ISLAND, PITS, POSTHOLES & SCOOPS OF LATE BRONZE AGE WERE LOCATED (6,7,9).
During the Eton Rowing Lake Project, Oxford Archaeology extended areas of topsoil stripping/excavation S from the former watercourse to this approximate location and called the sites 'Ex 1, Ex 2 and Ex 3'. At the edge of the former watercourse beaver gnawed branches were located interspersed with struck flint and pottery. On top of the underlying gravel, shallow hollows filled with subsoil were noted. Much of the soil was reddened, indicating extensive clearence at some stage. 25% of the soil patches were investigated and produced struck flints, including two Mesolithic picks or axes, an early Neolithic laurel-leaf point, and an assortment of other retouched tools. One hollow contained a possibly hearth in association with Neolithic pottery. Amongst the irregular soil marks were small circular or oval pits filled with fire-cracked flint in matrix of charcoal-blackened soil. No postholes were found and no structures recognised. Excavation 2 identified an occupation level 0.5m below the topsoil, but no knapping clusters were located. Finds did include Neolithic Peterborough ware and an Early Bronze Age urn. Two oak trees had toppled into the channel and were preserved where they lay, hence given good dating evidence for the channel. Excavation area 3 also produced a mass of beaver-gnawed branches at the edge of the former Thames channel and finds included a perforated antler mattock of possibly Mesolithic date (10, 11, 12).