Vale and Ridgeway Project

Directors: Gary Lock and Chris Gosden

Fieldwork started in 2001 and is ongoing

Marcham Personnel
Assistant Director: Zena Kamash
Landowners: Will and Janey Cumber
Excavation Manager: Sheila Raven and Paula Levick
Education Officers: Megan Price
Site Surveyor: Michael Athanson
Geophysicist: William Wintle

These excavations are concentrating on the site of Marcham/Frilford which is well known from previous excavations (see the interim reports for references) and often referred to as just ‘Frilford’. Marcham/Frilford is located in the Vale of the White Horse (on the A338 to Wantage at what used to be The Noah’s Ark pub) not far from the sites we excavated as the Hillforts of the Ridgeway Project. Together the two projects explore life in this area through the later prehistoric and Romano-British periods.

This site is an Iron Age settlement which is overlain by a Romano-British temple complex. The temple has a large temenos area defined by a stone wall with various public buildings outside it. One of these is a large circular structure which has been one focus of our excavations – its function is unclear at the moment but it was probably some form of theatre/amphitheatre associated with religious activities and the nearby temple.

A new video of the 2011 excavations at Marcham can be seen at http://www.skyeyecam.co.uk/video-clips (Second video on the page)

Education and Outreach 2011

The excavations on the site have revealed evidence of occupation from the later Bronze Age through the Iron Age and Romano-British periods and beyond.

2011 will be our last season of work here. Between 2001 and 2010 various Romano-British structures have been excavated, including a temple and a possible amphitheatre, and Iron Age and Bronze Age deposits. Each year the excavations reveal more fascinating questions about the age and purpose of this Romano-British site.
 
Come and visit us
 
We welcome pre-booked visits from schools, societies and individuals between 10am and 3pm from Thursday 7th July - Tuesday 26th July except Saturdays.

•    A display of the site and recent finds
•    A guided tour of about 1 hour given by an archaeologist and an explanation of the time periods involved
•    A chance to see archaeology in action
•    A practical session, including handling and looking for artefacts (mainly for schools but all welcome!).

For bookings and further information contact megan.price@arch.ox.ac.uk

Open Day: Sunday 24th July 2011 10am-4pm

Tour the site, feel the artefacts, join the Roman Army!

Plus: Exhibition of archaeological models, Craft stall and Refreshments

Ample parking: donations of £5 per car will contribute towards excavation expenses.

Driving directions from Oxford to the Marcham/Frilford excavation site are downloadable here (pdf document).

See the Council for British Archaeology’s website for details of The Young Archaeologists’ Club and National Archaeology Week.

The excavations take place for four weeks each July and there are a limited number of places for paying volunteers. There is a campsite with facilities and local B&B information is available. The fee includes training.

Dates for 2011 (the final year of excavation) are:

•       Week 1: Sunday 3rd July to Friday 8th July  [WEEK 1 NOW FULL]
•       Week 2: Sunday 10th July to Friday 15th July    [WEEK 2 NOW FULL]
•       Week 3: Sunday 17th July to Friday 22nd July    [WEEK 3 NOW FULL]
•       Week 4: Sunday 24th July to Friday 29th July [WEEK 4 NOW FULL]

For any other information contact training.excavation@conted.ox.ac.uk.

In 2005 we were awarded a Lottery grant to develop links with the local community, see the Local Heritage Initiative website for further information.

Also in 2005 we were featured on the Time Team’s Big Roman Dig.

Take an online Oxford University course on Roman Britain.

For our latest thoughts on the 2001-2007 seasons of excavation, please see our latest article in Britannia (2010): 

Kamash, Z., Gosden, C. and Lock, G. 'Continuity and Religious Practices in Roman Britain: the case of the rural religious complex at Marcham/Frilford, Oxfordshire'  (copyright: Cambridge University Press)

There has been considerable debate about the possible function of the circular structure, see the article in Current Archaeology:

Gosden, C. and Lock, G. 2003. Frilford: A Romano-British ritual pool in Oxfordshire? Current Archaeology, No.184, Vol. XVI No 4, pp. 156-9.

Interim reports are published each year in South Midlands Archaeology and are available here as downloadable PDF files.

• The 2001 interim report
• The 2002 interim report
• The 2003 interim report
• The 2004 interim report
• The 2005 interim report - Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3
• The 2006 interim report
• The 2007 interim report
• The 2008 interim report
• The 2009 interim report
• The 2010 interim report