ABSTRACT

The Neolithic occupation of the gravel terraces of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire provides an interesting contrast with that of central Wessex. While the monuments of Wessex form regional concentrations on the blocks of chalk downland, those of the Thames Valley make up a number of smaller complexes running at intervals along the course of the river. We have seen that in Salisbury Plain extensive areas of grassland gradually emerged, but there are indications that in the Upper Thames basin the scale of clearances may have been somewhat smaller. The patchwork of lime, elm and other woodland which covered much of the valley at the start of the Neolithic was opened in a number of places in the course of the fourth millennium BC, principally those where groups of monuments were constructed (Robinson and Wilson 1987). The pollen site at Daisy Banks, close to the Abingdon causewayed enclosure and the barrow cemetery of Barrow Hills, Radley, provided indications that lightly or seasonally grazed grassland had been established early in the Neolithic. Moreover, there appear to have been cereals grown in the area throughout much of the period (Barclay et al. 1996, 6). Across the river at Thrupp, mollusc samples from a ring ditch suggested further open country in the later Neolithic. At Dorchester on Thames, another group of monuments was set in permanent grassland, and open conditions were also present at Yarnton, Drayton, Stanton Harcourt and Gravelly Guy (Barclay et al. 1995, 67).