ARCHAEOLOGISTS who discovered the University of Oxford’s ‘lost college’ have now found evidence of a 4,000-year-old burial mound beneath it.
Last month, Oxford Archaeology discovered part of the foundations of the former St Mary’s College, which was abandoned following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.
The dig has been taking place at Brasenose College’s Frewin development, where 30 student rooms are being built.
Read again: Remains of Oxford’s ‘lost college’ uncovered by archaeologists
The latest find includes a fragment of a skull and part of a human jawbone, with some teeth still in place, together with remains typical of a Bronze Age barrow used for human burials.
Oxford Archaeology’s senior project manager Ben Ford said it appeared the south-eastern part of St Mary’s College had been built on top of part of what was once a circular burial mound.
He said: “Locating part of the original massive limestone wall foundation of St Mary’s College was a significant archaeological discovery, and it is exciting to have now discovered underneath it and nearby the remains of an earthwork, a fragment of skull, and part of a human jawbone.
“These intriguing discoveries strongly suggest a prehistoric burial mound was on this site thousands of years before Oxford even existed.
“The jawbone is robust and clearly from an individual of some stature. The mound is built from reddish colour soils and natural gravel – its survival is very unusual.
“We are now searching for the circular ditch which would have surrounded it, and the remaining bones of the individual.”
Mr Ford added that Oxford is situated on a long north-south promontory – a peak of high land that juts out into a body of water – between the rivers Thames and Cherwell, with previous discoveries of Bronze Age barrows.
He said: “In the Neolithic era, the Oxford promontory was probably a sacred area, which remained significant in the Bronze Age when it became an extensive burial ground to commemorate powerful and important people from local communities, under large earthen mounds.
“Frewin Hall is one of the oldest buildings still in use in the city, and when we started this project, we hoped to uncover evidence of Oxford’s earliest years as a fortified Saxon town, as well as its later use as the residence of some of Oxford’s most powerful Norman families.
“However, it had not been previously documented that there was a prehistoric burial site here.
“This rare discovery brings a new dimension to what is known about this rich archaeological area, and we are grateful to Brasenose College for making this possible by funding the excavation.”
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