Doing 'Deep time'

Quarries have long been recognised as windows on the past. In the first half of the 19th century, ground investigation techniques such as 'deep sequences' from quarries established the geological 'time depth' of the planet for the first time. This eventually overturned the theory of 'Biblical sequencing' in which it was thought that the world was formed in 400BC.

During the latter half of the 19th century, soil stripping within quarries provided the first opportunities for the archaeological excavation of later prehistoric and Roman settlements in Britain.

A series of long-term excavations have been carried out in Hanson Aggregate's quarries in East Anglia by the University’s Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), often involving a decade or more of fieldwork. Access to the sites by the public is usually restricted due to safety concerns though, and the scientific literature the work generates can often seem daunting.

Funded by DEFRA’s Aggregates Sustainability Fund Grant Scheme, Hansen Aggregates has launched a programme designed to make the results of recent archaeological fieldwork in the quarries more widely available to schools and the general public.

The new website called 'Unearthing the past' offers an in-depth exploration of the archaeological findings from three of the Cambridgeshire quarries. With subjects including prehistoric environmental change, settlement structures, ritual, and Roman trade and communications networks, the website will prove an invaluable resource for teachers and students.

Supporting the web site is a touring exhibition looking at the diverse archaeology of the three main sites and a series of school boxes. The boxes focus on the Roman period, supporting Key Stage 2 work, but also offering opportunities relating to other areas of study, including Maths, Science, English and Geography.

One of the most exciting aspects of the programme is the Over Monuments Group at Hanson's Needingworth Quarry. In addition to the restoration of the largest man-made wetland bird reserve in Europe, a 'monument park' has been established to ensure the preservation of an important group of upstanding Bronze Age barrow mounds. The circle of a great settlement enclosure of the period has also been restored. Together, these form one of the most impressive prehistoric monument settings in South East England.

From desktop study through to area excavation, supported by the academic and scientific expertise of the University of Cambridge, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) specialises in the archaeology of eastern England, but has also undertaken a number of important international projects in China, Beirut and Nepal.

Their pioneering landscape sampling methods have proven successful on motorway and major quarry sites, providing the basis of a highly efficient archaeological practice and a good relationship with industry.