Archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology carrying out work for Oxfordshire County Council have uncovered a Bronze Age well in the southeast of the county, according to a press release issued on 7 May 2024. The archaeologists were carrying out surveying work ahead of the construction of a new road, north of the village of Benson when the well was discovered.
The well is lined with wooden wattle, and is thought to date from the Late Bronze Age, with a more precise date likely to be obtained through radiocarbon dating. The structure was recorded digitally, before being carefully dismantled and removed for storage by the Oxfordshire Museum Service (left in place it would have been destroyed by the road construction work). It is hoped that testing of the materials will enable archaeologists to determine the type of wood used to construct the well, as well as the tools and techniques used to work the wood. Preserved wooden items of this age are extremely rare, and in this case have probably survived because the environment was waterlogged, and the well was filled in. Traces of Bronze Age activity have previously been found around Benson, and it is hoped that soil samples taken from within the well will provide information about the local environment during the period.
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