In 2023, a very exciting project unfolded in the quiet countryside around Cambridge.
Working with Cambridgeshire Constabulary, we undertook an excavation in support of a planning application for a new police station. The site itself is a little to the west of the village of Milton and sits within a rural landscape that’s already shown to be rich in archaeology.
We knew there was a great deal of past activity here through previous investigations in neighbouring developments. Evidence revealed occupation stretching back through the Roman, Iron and Bronze Ages, with some rare finds coming to light, such as the two Iron Age wooden log ladders (dating between 800 and 400BC), as well as the significant discovery of a Roman barrow! Fieldwalking had also uncovered potential signs of Mesolithic hunting and possible Neolithic flint assemblages, all of which pointed to a long history of use around the village.
It’s a landscape that has inspired many archaeological investigations to date and we were eager to start uncovering what lay beneath the soil of our site.
What were we expecting to find?
You can never truly know what will be discovered during any excavation. However, our expectations for this site were high. We believed it had the potential to contain Roman agricultural buildings, yards, and environmental evidence for corn drying and/or malting, dating to the 3rd – 4th centuries AD. This followed preliminary investigations and analysis, including a desk-based assessment, geophysical surveys and twenty-six trial trenches.
From what we’d seen, the signs suggested there was a farmstead of relative affluence nearby, possibly even a Roman villa. This boded well for the excavation to bring to light some fascinating finds.
Discover the project unfolding week by week!
We were thrilled to be working with Cambridgeshire Constabulary to bring you news from this exciting excavation as it progressed from week to week – and now you can read the updates from start to finish, below!
Read the initial announcement here.
Week 1 update.
Week 2 update
Week 3 update
Week 4 update
Week 5 update
Week 6 update
Week 7 update
Week 8 update
Week 9 update
Week 10 update
Week 11 update
Week 12 update
Week 13 update
Week 14 update
Week 15 update
Week 16 update
Week 17 update