SUMMARY

Excavations at Dunmore Road, Abingdon (formerly Berks.) uncovered activity dating from the Neolithic to the early Roman period. Following some ephemeral traces of Neolithic and Bronze Age activity, the earliest clear evidence of settlement was represented in the early Iron Age by a series of post-built and ditched roundhouses, numerous pits, and four- and six-post structures. Middle Iron Age activity was represented primarily by a series of enclosures accompanied by an inhumation burial and several pits. One of the enclosures was recut in the late Iron Age and a larger adjoining enclosure was established during this time. The larger enclosure was recut three times in the early Roman period, showing continuity in local activity, which also saw the construction of a probable masonry building. A previously unknown Roman road, flanked by ditches c.20–28 m apart with layers of metalling in between, was found extending across the site. Projection of the road alignment southwards connects it to the late Iron Age oppidum and Roman nucleated settlement at Abingdon. No road has previously been found that links Abingdon to the main Roman road network. Activity ceased in the early second century AD, around the time of settlement and landscape reorganisation observed more widely in the Abingdon area. The road does not appear to have been refurbished thereafter, and the extent to which it continued in use through the later Roman period is unknown. Medieval furrows crossed the site on the same alignment as the Iron Age and early Roman enclosures and perpendicular to the Roman road. However, the furrows may have been aligned upon Wootton Road to the west rather than indicating any influence from the late prehistoric or Roman remains.