Back in 2013 Urban Archaeology's Chiz Harward was seconded to LP Archaeology to excavate a site next to the award winning Horse and Groom
Inn in Bourton on the Hill, in the heart of the Cotswolds.
The site contained evidence for Iron Age occupation: with at
least one probable roundhouse, whilst a pit contained the crouched burial of an
adult male carbon dated to 235-87BC. Isotope analysis indicates he did not grow
up locally, and may be from Scotland or the European Continent; intriguingly
the isotope analysis also suggests a diet low in animal or marine protein. The skeleton
of a baby was also found in the pit, with parts of two further baby skeletons
found on the site.
The crouched Iron Age burial |
Aerial view of the medival farm buildings |
Reconstruction drawing of medival farm buildings |
The site report will be published in this year’s
Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. Chiz
Harward would like to thank the Greenstocks at Horse and Groom Inn for commissioning and
supporting the excavations and everyone who worked on the site and post
excavation work.
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