Manor Farm, Old Wolverton, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. 2008-2010 Interim Report.

Abstract

During 2007-2010, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) has undertaken a series of strip, map and sample exercises at Manor Farm, Old Wolverton, Milton Keynes. The 2007 season identified a large palaeochannel crossing the gravels in Phase 1. Two wooden posts within the channel were dated to the Late Mesolithic period, whilst a third post, driven through the overlying alluvial layers returned a Saxon date. A single prealluvial ditch and a partial brushwood trackway located within the alluvial layers were also excavated (CAU Report 844, 2008). During 2008-2010, Phases 3 and 4 were stripped, exposing an extensive prehistoric landscape across the gravel terraces, sealed by later alluvial layers. The earliest activity was represented by an in situ deposit of Upper Palaeolithic flints, whilst Late Mesolithic flints across the site attest to transient activity during this time. The partial remains of three cursus monuments and a complete hengiform demonstrate the use of landscape as a ritual space during the Neolithic. Partial Bronze Age field systems and settlement activity were also recorded across the site. Roman activity on site was represented by ditches, quarry pits and two limestone trackways, cut from, or contained within the alluvial layers. A braided channel system, probably active from the Roman period onwards, was also investigated at the southern end of the site.