SOAG has actively been engaged in fieldwork for many years from the excavation of Paleolithic flints by the Thames to recording Cold War architecture.

Projects can involve anything from small to large excavations with mattock and trowel to fieldwalking and landscape surveys using the latest geophysical techniques. SOAG welcomes both those who are new to archaeology and those with many years experience.

Currently active projects in which SOAG is involved include:

• Smokedown Romano British site
• Landscape archaeology of South Oxfordshire
• Greys Court
• Park Corner excavations
• Geophysics techniques
• Coldharbour Farm
• Chinnor Community archaeology activities
• Middle Thames Archaeological Partnership – MTAP

Projects which are in the post-excavation phase (finds processing, analysis and report writing) include:

• Gatehampton Roman Villa
• Ascott Park

Recently completed projects, and a sample of older project which SOAG has undertaken are described on the ‘Past Projects‘ page.

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Currently active projects

The site at Smokedown is SOAG’s major current excavation. With the generous permission of the landowners, this multi-year project is the archaeological investigation of a Late Iron Age enclosure overlain by a substantial Romano-British villa (and surrounded by a complex system of enclosures, fields and trackways) in the Upper Thames Valley. 

Having established outlines of both the LIA enclosure and the RB villa overlying it by geophysics, and having confirmed that there are significant surviving archaeological remains beneath the surface, we have been able to move on to more detailed and targeted investigation. Over the last five years of excavation, we have opened up 21 different trenches across the enclosure, with fascinating results and insights into what is turning out to be a multi-phase structure. We are also continuing our geophysical survey of the enclosure and the wider field.

Typically a seven-week programme is planned beween August and mid-September depending on access to the field. (Dates in the SOAG Calendar). All members of SOAG are welcome to participate.  Documents associated with the project and brief reports of each year’s activities can be found in the Smokedown project page.

Analysing the position of archaeological features within the landscape can provide context and assist interpretation and dating. The use of LiDAR and GIS can be powerful ways of understanding the relationship between local geography and landscape features but the close study of maps and documents, particularly early ones, can be just as useful. The process can sometimes be reversed when information from old maps or documents can be used to regress the landscape and identify now lost or hidden archaeological features.

In addition to stand alone projects undertaken by members, LA often supports excavations by providing a historical context of the site. Selected current projects are listed below and more detail examples are provided on the Landscape Archaeology page:

• Roads and tracks – creating a GIS data base of roads and tracks to provide insight into the positioning of sites, their relationship with the wider landscape and to inform other projects.
• Analysis of Romano-British settlements and the agriculture and economy in South Oxfordshire.
• Historic land use, mainly in support of larger projects, using LiDAR and archive evidence.
• Thames crossings

LA affords us the opportunity to take a wider view of the landscape and to integrate more sources of information thereby, hopefully, gaining a better understanding of man’s impact on the landscape and, perhaps, why our ancestors did what they did.

Examples of how these techniques can be used, along with some current projects are discussed in the Landscape Archaeology section but, in the end, boots on the ground and eyes are the best starting point! Members are welcome to suggest projects and receive support where available. This may involve analysis of similar sites in the local area or beyond.  For general enquiries, or if you have a suggestion for a project, please contact: landscape@soagarch.org.uk.

In 2024 the excavations uncovered the remains of the demolished Tudor brick wall and gateway in the lower part of the oval lawn, with the base of a structure behind it and a possibly earlier flint wall below it.

In 2025 the excavations in the upper oval lawn uncovered part of the foundations of an inter-court range that would have linked the main house to another building to the east of the courtyard. Geophysical surveys have also revealed tantalising glimpses of the remains of further buildings to the east of the oval lawn and on the upper lawn.

Greys Court management have been very pleased with these Festival of Archaeology events, and together we hope to make this an annual event! For more details see the Greys Court project page.

This excavation was undertaken over a three-week period from in June and July 2025 in partnership with the Chiltern Heritage and Archaeological Partnership (CHAP) under the direction of Dr Wendy Morrison who was holding an archaeological summer school.

For further details of the excavations undertaken, see the Park Corner project page.

Geophysics is the study of what lies beneath the ground without needing to disturb the soil first. In SOAG, we conduct both electrical and magnetic surveys, as an early evaluation of a site and to indicate possible archaelological features and areas of interest for excavation, should that be deemed appropriate.

Typically, we would first lay out a 20m by 20m grid using GPS equipment, and then conduct the surveys.

The Romans have been largely elusive in the extensive archaeology that has been conducted in Wallingford over many years.  However in the 1990s a significant Roman burial ground was found in a field across the river near Crowmarsh Gifford. The scope of the current project is the exploration of several local fields with the intention of finding the associated Romano-British settlement.

The current phase of the project involves mainly non-intrusive fieldwork; embracing geophysical surveys (both resistivity and magnetometry), field walking and metal detecting. The project lasts for 2-3 weeks each August when the fields become available, post harvesting.  SOAG members, and others, interested in participating should contact CHF@soagarch.org.uk.

Greening Chinnor volunteers are helping to clear the site and restore the orchard, and have asked for SOAG’s help in locating the former cottages on the site.  From historic maps and photographs they have a good idea of where the buildings were.  SOAG is helping to train the Greening Chinnor volunteers in archaeological procedures, and has led digging and test-pitting in the spring and autumn of the last three years. For further details contact chinnor@soagarch.org.uk.

SOAG has recently joined Middle Thames Archaeology Partnership (MTAP) an umbrella organisation to coordinate archaeology activities in the Middle Thames area. Some of the MTAP projects will be of interest to SOAG members. Click here for more information.

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Projects in post excavation

The excavation of a Roman villa site near Goring-on-Thames was one of SOAG’s major projects – the field work was undertaken from 1993 until 2019. The project exposed a very large area of the villa and also included an extensive survey of the landscape around the villa.

This 3rd-4th century villa, stood within a large rectangular enclosure, on a gravel terrace, facing southwards, towards the River Thames. Three or more large central rooms are linked on the south elevation by a corridor with a range of small rooms on the northern side. A bath house at the western end of the building consists of a stokeroom, one room with a hypocaust, a further partially heated room with a sunken pool and an apsidal room.  At the eastern end of the building is a cess pit and a second bath house also with well-preserved hypocaust features and a tiled sunken pool.

Many of the flint and chalk wall footings and floors survive in good preservation, relatively undisturbed by later farming and robbing out of the walls. Most of the rooms of the villa had painted wall plaster, some small sections still in situ at the base of wall footings.

The excavation resulted in the recording of over three  metric tonnes of ceramic building material in the form of tile from the roof and from bath house features.

The project generated a very significant number of finds and artefacts – including two almost complete examples of a 3^rdC CE Motto beakers made in Trier – and these are currently in the processs of being recorded and analysed. For more details see the Gatehampton project pages.

SOAG accepted an invitation to continue fieldwork which initially mainly involved geophysical surveys. The project was revived in 2018 in a three year excavation project finally to determine the location of the house. Visit the Ascott Park project page for more of the history and details of the project.