Bronze Age Funerary and Later Prehistoric Activity at Badminston Farm, Fawley, Hampshire

Abstract

Archaeological excavations were undertaken by Southern Archaeological Services Ltd. between 1999 and 2010 at Badminston Farm, Fawley, on the eastern edge of the New Forest, adjacent to Southampton Water. The excavations identified evidence of near- continuous human activity from the early prehistoric period to the present day. Mesolithic activity was followed by Early Bronze Age pits, containing 'placed' flint assemblages. Evidence of Bronze Age funerary activity included deflated barrows/ring ditches, and associated cremations. Late Bronze Age ceramics were absent but a hoard of 68 Armorican-type socketed axes may have been a votive offering marking the 'ancestral' barrow which would have been visible here. Other Bronze Age evidence included two burnt mounds and an ill-defined structure possibly associated with weaving. Iron Age activity was represented by a number of pits containing domestic pottery, while Late Iron Age and Romano-British ditches may have formed part of an enclosure. A significant assemblage of non-local worked stone attests to long distance exchange, and the possibility of a nearby farmstead. Medieval activity was represented by pits, ditches and stakeholes, with some evidence of an enclosure or structure associated with grain drying. Later land divisions and a WWII radio communication station dominated more recent use of the site.