The Riverside Site: Babraham Research Institute, Cambridgeshire: An Archaeological Evaluation.

Résumé 0

An archaeological trench evaluation carried out at this riverside site south-west of the new ARES Research Centre and to the north-east of Babraham Hall revealed evidence for Neolithic and Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (possibly Beaker period) flintworking associated with the re-deposited remains of possible burnt flint mounds located along the edge of a former palaeo-channel of the River Granta. Exploitation of this flint resource continued into the later Bronze Age. Roman occupation of this part of the floodplain, close to a likely fording point of the river, is evident from a series of NW-SE curvilinear ditches, and slightly further away against the edge of the gravel terrace, an E-W and a SW-NE oriented ditch, the latter a much more typical alignment of the Babraham Roman settlement. Adjacent to this were found daub-filled beam-slot(s) associated with a possible wooden building. Pottery dates linked to the silting-up of ditches and to the gradual submersion of a raised gravel causeway that once ran parallel to the river and across the floodplain, suggests that this area was abandoned, perhaps due to seasonal or more permanent flooding, sometime during the 2nd century AD. However, there is at least some suggestion of an attempt at river management through the re-cutting or deepening of one of the major palaeo-channels, perhaps commenced during the Roman period, but then repeated some time during the medieval, and again in the post-medieval period prior to the canalisation of the river. A group of SW-NE post-medieval banks and ditches were encountered which may to relate to an inner estate boundary shown on historic maps of the land of Babraham Hall.