Neolithic Thame
Welcome to the second way marker of ‘The Peculiar Pot’ – a story trail for Thame.
This trail was funding through Public Art Funding, and installed in 2023. Find out more about the project through this link.
If you would like to follow the trail from it’s start, the first way marker can be found on the corner of Roman Way and Saxon Square (OX9 2FS) – located in the centre of the green space.
Listen to the part of the story, relevant to this way marker, below:
A duck or a chicken?
You heard chickens in the story, but there is a duck here … do you know why? It is because although chickens exist in our magical tale, they were unlikely to have been around in Thame at the time our ‘Child’ visited Neolithic Thame. It is actually the Iron Age that is believed to have been the main period for dispersion of chickens throughout Europe – although they were already present in some areas during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age – and it wasn’t until the Roman period that they were farmed and eaten.
The Neolithic British Isles: The ox horn, axe head and … wheel?
Our story paints a picture of what Neolithic Thame may have been – but this is purely imaginative. If you want to find out more about life in Neolithic Britain there are many different sources available – such as this page from Warwick University. If you want to read more about what was discovered here, on this site in Thame, then Cotswold Archaeology have a great write up about it.
As for a child inventing a wheel for a Skateboard in Thame? Well, probably not. The oldest Bronze Age wheel in Britain is the Flag Fen wheel which dates to c1300 BC. Part of a Late Bronze Age wooden wheel is also known from Lingwood Fen near Cottenham in Cambridgeshire. In Europe, the earliest wheels date to at least 2500 BC, in the Copper Age. The first car wouldn’t have arrived in Thame until the early 1900s – do you know who owned it? We would love to find out!
Did you know that Thame has a fabulous Skate Park that you can use today?
The Peculiar Pot?
This story trail was partially inspired by the discovery of an Iron Age pot near this location, that was unearthed by a badger. It lead to an archaeological survey which revealed that Thame has a rich prehistoric past, going back around six thousand years. Find out more about Thame’s history through our summary page here, visit Thame Museum, or for a more in-depth look at Thame’s history, you may want to consider joining Thame Historical Society.
Challenge Questions:
Listen to the story:
- What birds can you hear in the story?
Look at the Way marker
- What was the child wearing in Neolithic Thame?
CONTINUE THE TRAIL:
- To find the next way marker, carefully cross the Oxford Road and head down hill towards Thame Town Centre, but turn immediately right into Sycamore Drive
- Take the next left onto Beech Way and follow the road right down to the bottom and round the corner. Where the road meets with Hazel Avenue turn left to walk down an alleyway between two houses
- At the bottom of the alley way, cross a dirt track to enter Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve. The next way marker in on your left just after you cross over Cuttle Brook.