Newnham dig

It may look peaceful today, but Newnham College, Cambridge was once the site of a sprawling Roman settlement.

People threw away a lot of rubbish, and their old pottery and animal bones are now allowing archaeologists to discover the existence of entire villages. We are starting to realise the huge extent of Roman settlement around this area.

Dr Carenza Lewis

It may look peaceful today, but Newnham College, Cambridge was once the site of a sprawling Roman settlement.

The discovery was made last week during an archaeological excavation of the college's gardens, which also unearthed evidence of a 16th or 17th century farmhouse that could date back to the reign of Henry VIII.

The dig, supervised by Cambridge University archaeologists Catherine Hills and Carenza Lewis, was carried out by 20 sixth-form girls from schools in Peterborough, London and Birmingham. They had come to Cambridge to take part in the excavation and sample college life.

The site first became of interest in the late 1930s when five skeletons, said to be Anglo-Saxon, were discovered while air raid shelters were being dug in readiness for the Second World War. Headed by Dorothy Garrod - the University's first female professor and a renowned archaeologist - a team of women from the college excavated the graves using dessert spoons and toothbrushes.

After the war, the air raid shelters were covered with soil and the exact location of the graves was lost. But when Dr Hills - herself a Fellow of Newnham and an expert in archaeological burial - heard about the story, she was keen to find out more about the mysterious skeletons.

Dr Hills, Dr Lewis and staff at the college also saw an opportunity to involve schoolchildren in the hunt for the skeletons, using the excavation to demonstrate the excitement of archaeology and the fun of studying in a Cambridge college.

The dig, though, unearthed unexpected finds. Large amounts of Roman pottery convinced both Dr Hills and Dr Lewis that they had dug through to the remains of a 2,000-year-old settlement, significant because it suggests that the Roman presence at Newnham was far more considerable than previously thought.

"We knew there was a Roman settlement here before but we had no idea of the size," said Dr Hills.

"The village has been buried under the gardens for nearly 2,000 years, and may have seen the Roman conquest of Britain and Boudicca's revolt. The 16th-century farmhouse was a complete surprise."

Dr Lewis, who has appeared regularly on the popular archaeology television programme Time Team said: "East Anglia is rich in Roman and medieval remains just waiting to be discovered. People threw away a lot of rubbish, and their old pottery and animal bones are now allowing archaeologists to discover the existence of entire villages. We are starting to realise the huge extent of Roman settlement around this area."

Meanwhile, underground, the mystery of the skeletons remains.


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