Cotswold Archaeology

A crisp breeze across the nature reserve, the foliage sways to reveal… an anti-aircraft battery 👀 Amongst the birds and the trees at @rspbarne sits the Arne Hill Heavy Anti-Aircraft battery, established to defend the Royal Naval Cordite Factory at Holton Heath. Intentionally positioned beneath enemy flight paths, the battery overlooks sweeping views across Poole Harbour – a landscape valued for centuries, for its strategic importance. During the Axis Powers' intensified bombing raids of 1940–41, the battery fired through the night while nearby ‘Starfish’ decoy sites drew bombs away from the factory, leaving wartime scars that are still visible in the surrounding landscape. We’re now working on recommendations to protect both the wildlife and the wartime story this site holds. Proposals include scrub management, volunteer-led monitoring and improved interpretation – balancing the conservation of this important WWII site with the surrounding habitat, as the landscape continues to flourish 🌿 #Dorset #WWII #Archaeology #CAArchTeam #Conservation

Back in June 2024, I had the privilege of working with @cotswoldarch (a field partner of the @dodpaa ) and #operationnightingale to document the search and recovery of Ft Lt John Fisher, who tragically lost his life on the first Aphrodite mission on 4th August 1944. His remains were never found. Our mission was to recover any physical traces of John and his B-17 drone that crashed in a tranquil woodland near Sudbourne in Suffolk. Out of all of the recovery deployments I've worked on, this one hit the hardest. John was only 21 when he was killed, having already flown 30 combat missions, 20 as co-pilot and the last 10 as lead pilot in a B-17 heavy bomber. He left behind his young wife Jane and his baby son, Peter, whom he would never meet. #operationaphrodite #b17 #ww2 #forensicarchaeology

“We think we’ve found something” A twist of metal, curled like a leaf. Time stands still; the whole team barely taking a breath – trying to decide if this is significant, if this fragment is somehow linked to our missing airman. “It says his name! Look – it says ‘Fisher’! …What was his wife called?” “What was his 𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦 called?!…” “It reads: 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦.” This is the most moving item we have ever found – located by US servicemen during our effort to recover the remains of 1st Lt John W Fisher. John died when his B-17, heavily laden with high-explosives, crashed during a mission for WWII operation ‘Aphrodite’. 80 years after enduring the catastrophic explosion, this keepsake still proclaims the love and commitment felt by John’s young wife, Jane. She’s seen here with Peter – the son John Fisher would never meet. As his aircraft’s steering malfunctioned, John had pushed his co-pilot out of the flying bomb, before returning to the cockpit in an attempt to regain control and avoid devastating the Suffolk village of Orford. He was sadly never seen again. 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝘁 𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗿. 10th September 1922 - 4th August 1944 🇺🇸 🕊️ @dodpaa #LestWeForget #WWII #Archaeology #NoManLeftBehind #OperationNightingale

From beads to brooches, we're talking all things bling 📿 The Oxford Cotswold Archaeology team working across @sizewellc have been uncovering little links to the people of the past through the items they may have worn as jewellery. Take a peek at the link in our bio 🔗 #OCAArchTeam #Suffolk #ArchaeologicalFinds

Beneath the tree canopy along The Ridgeway Trail in Oxfordshire lies the 5.5km ‘Grim’s Ditch’ – a probable Iron Age earthwork 🌳 Its original purpose remains something of a mystery, but it may’ve helped connect long-distance prehistoric routes along the River Thames, Icknield Way and The Ridgeway. Today, the monument is on the Heritage at Risk Register – woodland boosts biodiversity, but root networks, scrub growth and burrowing animals also disturb the integrity of the archaeology 🦡 With support from our team, the woodland remains an important wild habitat but it is now being carefully managed to help protect the monument and support its continued use as a historic routeway — all with help from local Grundon and Wallingford Green Gym volunteers! To find out more about the monument and its management, comment GRIM 😉 #Oxfordshire #IronAge #Conservation #Heritage #CAArchTeam

New rare discoveries at Kirkby Thore are transforming our understanding of early medieval Cumbria 📚 Link To Our Latest Blog 🔗👉 Click Linktree in Bio During Oxford Cotswold Archaeology (OCA) excavations along the A66 route, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a large timber hall and a rare sunken-feature building (SFB) — some of the earliest evidence of post-Roman life found during the scheme. Our latest archaeology blog explores how these findings are helping to shine new light on Cumbria’s so-called “Dark Ages”. Could this be part of a much larger settlement still waiting to be revealed? Want to see this history being uncovered? Join us for our upcoming open event —16th May 2026— for a rare chance to watch archaeologists excavate what could be a much larger early medieval settlement 👀 Link to Open Event details in our LinkTree @cotswoldarch @nationalhways #archaeology #OCAArchTeam #A66NTP #Cumbria #history #heritage

Roman villas are rare in Devon. As the #SHAREproject (Saving Halberton’s Ancient Roman Environment) we’re now working with @uniofexeter and local society volunteers to excavate and record a plough-damaged example near Halberton, under threat from continued agricultural activity. At the very start of five years of planned excavations, the team have already found walls for two new buildings. Excitingly, we’ve also discovered opus signinum – a waterproof Roman concrete widely used in baths, aqueducts, cisterns, and any buildings involving water, including Roman houses. Could we have a potential bathhouse on site...? Comment SHARE for a link to a short article, and keep an eye out for more updates as the dig progresses throughout May and June! #Archaeology #Devon #Roman #RomanoBritish

✨ For Friday’s instalment of #DeafAwarenessWeek we’ve got a little treat for you – a field-trip to London’s @ScienceMuseum ! 🔬🧬🎧🦻 If you’ve been following along, you’ve already met Sophie – profoundly deaf, cochlear implant wearer and archaeologist. With her archaeologist’s incurable desire to understand the past, she’s been off to investigate a gallery of historical hearing devices (Tutankhamun’s ear-trumpet, anyone..?), finding out how they’ve shaped both the lives and attitudes that have followed... 🐚 From Sophie and from us, thank you for following along and supporting #DeafAwarenessWeek2026!! 🦻🧏✨🤟🏻💞 #RaiseAwarenessNotYourVoice #NoOneWayToBeDeaf #Archaeology

Introducing: Jack – moderately-deaf Field Archaeologist and Duracell Bunny in human form 🐰✨ Jack is on a mission to break common misconceptions about deafness and highlight the challenges presented by working in archaeology… Who needs to hear, when the wind could be whistling straight through your hearing-aids at high volumes.... Right?! 🌬️🙉 He’s been busy busting myths about deafness, explaining how we can all better adapt our behaviours – comment JACK for a link to his short article on working in the field with hearing aids, and become part of a more inclusive world 🌍🤝 #RaiseAwarenessNotYourVoice #NoOneWayToBeDeaf #Deaf #DeafAwarenessWeek #Archaeology

On most of our sites, head-to-toe hi-vis and PPE are compulsory. But guess what? Because of hardhat design, they’re not hearing-device compatible 😑 Sophie was told there were solutions to making a hardhat work with her cochlear implant... but nobody seemed to know what they were! Over the past 6 months, we’ve been working with Sophie, Bryson and Betafit PPE to create a custom fit that should allow her to use her implant whilst keeping safe. Now she’ll finally hear that call for tea-break... 😅🍪 𝗜𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵, 𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻! #CochlearImplant #RaiseAwarenessNotYourVoice #Archaeology #DeafAwarenessWeek #DeafAwarenessWeek2026

The Cotswolds aren’t just a pretty landscape - if you look closely you’ll find remnants of ancient humans, Roman societies and medieval towns. But how do we go about discovering such things? And how can we tell what time period a piece of pottery is from? This is where Archeology comes in. Join us this Monday on @bcfmradio at 3pm to hike back through time, following the famed Cotswold Way as we explore Neolithic remains, Iron Age hill forts, Roman towns, medical castles and WWII defenses. All with the team at @cotswoldarch to take us on an exciting journey through time. #archaeology #romans #cotswolds #nature #history

The theme of #DeafAwarenessWeek2026 is ’𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥’. The focus is on breaking down barriers to communication, improving accessibility, and highlighting the resilience of the d/Deaf community 💪🏻✨🤟🏻 📊 Deafness is a spectrum – ranging from mild hearing loss to profound deafness – and no two people’s experiences are the same. Deafness is also far more common than many realise – 1 in 3 people you meet in the UK are d/Deaf, have hearing loss, or experience tinnitus. In support of Deaf Awareness Week and those 1 in 3, here are some simple Do’s and Don’ts you can use to support anyone in the d/Deaf community ✅❌ #RaiseAwarenessNotYourVoice #DeafAwarenessWeek #Deaf #Archaeology