Directed by Gary Lock and Chris Gosden

The fieldwork for this project took place between the years 1994 and 2000 and formed the training excavation for archaeology students at Oxford University, both full-time BA Archaeology and Anthropology and part-time Continuing Education students.

Working at Segsbury Camp, 1997

The work focussed on three hillforts on the Ridgeway in southern Oxfordshire:

• Uffington Castle and White Horse Hil (1994-1995)
• Segsbury Camp (1996-1997)
• Alfred’s Castle (1988-2000)

The Project Area

Our interest is in the creation and development of these three major foci of activity through the later prehistoric and Romano-British periods and how they articulated with the landscapes around them. This area is rich in archaeological evidence for these periods and we have attempted to interpret our findings within this wider context of landscape understanding. For our ideas on how the landscape works in creating history see:

Gosden, C. and G. Lock 1998 Prehistoric histories, World Archaeology. 30.1, pp2-12.

And for a relational approach to landscape see:

Gosden, C. and G. Lock In press. The aesthetics of landscape on the Berkshire Downs, in C. Haselgrove and R. Pope (eds) The earlier Iron Age in Britain and the near continent. Oxford: Oxbow Books.

In 2001 this project transformed into the Vale and Ridgeway Project and the excavation shifted to Marcham/Frilford in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire.