Burnham Beeches archaeology excavation results revealed

In September of 2019, Beacons of the Past, in collaboration with the Corporation of London, successfully held a Community Archaeology excavation to investigate the earthworks of Burnham Beeches. Volunteers were invited to take part in an archaeological evaluation at Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire. The archaeological investigation targeted a section of linear earthwork that runs NE-SW from the Victory Cross car park to the intersection with Seven Ways Plain, a univallate hillfort enclosure to the southwest.

The trench was located outside the scheduled area and approximately 600m from the actual intersection of the features. The excavation was undertaken in an attempt to establish the character, date, state of preservation, and extent of the archaeological remains within this part of Burnham Beeches, and with specific relevance for the prehistoric setting of the Seven Ways Plain hillfort.

More than 80 volunteers participated over the 11 days, all expertly supervised and trained by Robin Bashford, the project’s Fieldwork Officer for the dig. Now after all the stratigraphy, soils and TWO artefacts have been analysed and written up, we are pleased to share the final report with you. Like much archaeological work, it has raised as many if not more questions than it answered, and we are keen to have another crack at this feature. Plans are underway for another community dig with Rob in late Spring 2021.

A second dig is planned (the autumn 2020 season has been rolled back to late Spring 2021) so do sign up to our mail list to be in the know!