diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 60117e620..bfa96b96f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -183,27 +183,6 @@
 				<scope>test</scope>
 			</dependency>
 
-			<dependency>
-				<groupId>javax.el</groupId>
-				<artifactId>el-api</artifactId>
-				<version>${el.version}</version>
-				<scope>test</scope>
-			</dependency>
-
-			<dependency>
-				<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
-				<artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
-				<version>5.2.4.Final</version>
-				<scope>test</scope>
-			</dependency>
-
-			<dependency>
-				<groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
-				<artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
-				<version>3.1</version>
-				<scope>test</scope>
-			</dependency>
-
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>edu.umd.cs.mtc</groupId>
 				<artifactId>multithreadedtc</artifactId>
diff --git a/spring-cql/pom.xml b/spring-cql/pom.xml
index c300b99aa..dcef90638 100644
--- a/spring-cql/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-cql/pom.xml
@@ -64,17 +64,6 @@
 			<groupId>com.datastax.cassandra</groupId>
 			<artifactId>cassandra-driver-core</artifactId>
 		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>javax.enterprise</groupId>
-			<artifactId>cdi-api</artifactId>
-			<scope>provided</scope>
-			<optional>true</optional>
-		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>javax.el</groupId>
-			<artifactId>el-api</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.cassandra</groupId>
 			<artifactId>cassandra-all</artifactId>
@@ -84,15 +73,9 @@
 			<artifactId>guava</artifactId>
 			<version>${guava}</version>
 		</dependency>
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
-			<artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>edu.umd.cs.mtc</groupId>
 			<artifactId>multithreadedtc</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
 	</dependencies>
 
diff --git a/spring-cql/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/config/java/AbstractIntegrationTest.java b/spring-cql/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/config/java/AbstractIntegrationTest.java
index 90e4712d1..8e16bd333 100755
--- a/spring-cql/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/config/java/AbstractIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/spring-cql/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/config/java/AbstractIntegrationTest.java
@@ -15,26 +15,21 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.cassandra.test.integration.config.java;
 
-import javax.inject.Inject;
-
-import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
 import org.springframework.cassandra.test.integration.AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest;
-import org.springframework.cassandra.test.integration.config.IntegrationTestUtils;
 import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
 
 import com.datastax.driver.core.Session;
 
 /**
+ * Base class for Cassandra integration tests.
+ *
  * @author Matthew T. Adams
+ * @author Mark Paluch
  */
 @RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
 public abstract class AbstractIntegrationTest extends AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest {
 
-	@Inject protected Session session;
-
-	@Before
-	public void assertSession() {
-		IntegrationTestUtils.assertSession(session);
-	}
+	@Autowired protected Session session;
 }
diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/pom.xml b/spring-data-cassandra/pom.xml
index 11ff6906a..1a8300e4d 100644
--- a/spring-data-cassandra/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/pom.xml
@@ -52,13 +52,6 @@
 			<version>${springdata.commons}</version>
 		</dependency>
 
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>javax.annotation</groupId>
-			<artifactId>jsr250-api</artifactId>
-			<version>1.0</version>
-			<optional>true</optional>
-		</dependency>
-
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>joda-time</groupId>
 			<artifactId>joda-time</artifactId>
@@ -119,12 +112,6 @@
 			<artifactId>cassandra-all</artifactId>
 		</dependency>
 
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>javax.el</groupId>
-			<artifactId>el-api</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
-
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
 			<artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
@@ -139,27 +126,6 @@
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
 
-		<!-- JSR 303 Validation -->
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
-			<artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
-			<version>${validation}</version>
-			<optional>true</optional>
-		</dependency>
-
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
-			<artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
-
-		<dependency>
-			<groupId>commons-io</groupId>
-			<artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
-			<version>2.4</version>
-			<scope>test</scope>
-		</dependency>
-
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.apache.openwebbeans.test</groupId>
 			<artifactId>cditest-owb</artifactId>