Cite this as: Taylor, J., Langdon, C.T., Scaife, R. and Cameron, N.G. 2025 The River That Swallowed the Ringwood Prehistoric Landscape: Geoarchaeological investigations in advance of the development of the A31, Hampshire, England, Internet Archaeology 69. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.69.6
In March 2022, two geoarchaeological boreholes were drilled within the Avon Valley at the site of Jubilee Gardens, Ringwood, Hampshire. The works were commissioned from Connect Archaeology by VolkerFitzpatrick on behalf of their client, National Highways, as part of the A31 road widening and junction improvement works. One sequence was selected for palaeoenvironmental analysis and radiocarbon dating, aiming to provide evidence for landscape development in an area where such records are sparse. The results highlight two temporally removed phases of deposition. The early Neolithic base of the sequence illustrates the presence of alder carr and herbaceous wetland in the lower valley, with the higher land home to open grassland with copses of primarily hazel. Beyond the scheme footprint, Neolithic long barrows and Bronze Age barrow cemeteries were constructed among the higher grasslands, standing as prominent monuments overlooking the floodplain. It is possible that changing climate of the 2.8 ka event, bringing colder and wetter conditions, may have pushed people from the region as the rivers grew more powerful and eroded the ground around them. Such an event may explain the decline in regional human activity during the Iron Age period, as well as an absence of the channel's depositional sequence. By the early medieval period, conditions returned to deposition within the river channel, with herbaceous wetlands spreading through the lower valley, bringing a decline in alder carr, as agricultural field systems became prominent across the upper valley. Evidence for land reclamation and flood alleviation is shown throughout the 20th century as Ringwood grew.
Corresponding author: Jessica Taylor
jessica.taylor@aocarchaeology.com
AOC Archaeology Group
Catherine T. Langdon
C.T.Langdon@soton.ac.uk
University of Southampton
Rob Scaife
R.Scaife@soton.ac.uk
University of Southampton
Nigel G. Cameron
n.cameron@ucl.ac.uk
University College London
Figure 1: Site location, showing data points and transect. Image credit: AOC Archaeology.
Figure 2: Modular style of rig used to carry out onsite borehole evaluation. Image credit: AOC Archaeology.
Figure 3: Transect south-west to north-east across the site, showing thickness and extent of below-ground geology, and landscape development throughout the Holocene. B) Early Neolithic landscape. C) Early medieval landscape. D) Modern landscape. Image credit: AOC Archaeology.
Figure 4: Pollen diagrams. Image credit: University of Southampton
Figure 5: Topographic models. A) Early Holocene surface elevation. B) Early Neolithic schematic landscape reconstruction. C) Early medieval schematic landscape reconstruction. Image credit: AOC Archaeology.
Figure 6: Historic OS maps of the area, showing Victorian to modern development. A) 1830s to 1880s. B) 1937 to 1961. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
Figure 7: Nearby archaeological sites. Image credit: AOC Archaeology.
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