Skip to content

Ancient golden eagle bone pin found at Oxfordshire park and ride

Cotswold Archaeology Loom weight fragment.Cotswold Archaeology
One of the loom weight fragments found on the site

An "extremely exciting" pin made from the toe bone of a golden eagle has been uncovered by archaeologists during work to build a park and ride.

Cotswold Archaeology found an Iron Age settlement and the Early Bronze Age cremation burial of a young child at the site in Eynsham, Oxfordshire,

The bone pin is thought to be the only example found in a funerary context in England.

Evidence was also found of livestock enclosures and Iron Age pottery.

The artefacts were found at the site of the new park and ride, which is being being built next to the A40 in Eynsham.

The site also included small amounts of fired clay and loom weights, which the team said indicate "textile manufacture".

Cotswold Archaeology Golden Eagle PhalanxCotswold Archaeology
The golden eagle phalanx was found at the burial site

Jo Barker, post-excavation manager for the project, said: "The archaeology identified during this excavation provides an insight into the organisation and use of a small, local Iron Age farmstead, which potentially had a focus on textile production."

She said the identification of the burial and the unique golden eagle pin made from phalanx - the toe bone of an eagle - was "extremely exciting".

"The choice of eagle bone is likely to have been significant and it is possible such an object could have been considered talismanic, or was linked perhaps with afterlife beliefs, raising further questions about its use as a pyre good for a child," she added.

Cotswold Archaeology Excavation site mapCotswold Archaeology
The site plan of the excavation shows several roundhouses and loomweights within one of the buildings

The park and ride is expected to improve congestion on the A40 and will provide 860 spaces, as well as "regular and reliable" public transport services into Oxford.

Councillor Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet member for travel and development strategy, said: "This will not affect the park and ride as all the finds have been safely removed and preserved.

"The construction on the site is well under way, and you can see it from the A40 with a good view from the top of an S1 or S2 bus to and from Witney and Carterton."

Presentational grey line

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].