Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 93

Analysis of the soils and underlying geological formations of the area around Wandlebury on the southern edge of the Gog Magog Hills. Put forward as an aid to understanding the often complex `canvas' on which archaeological features are imposed.

Archaeological investigations in 1997 revealed a significant assemblage of Mesolithic to Bronze Age struck flint on the Greensand ridge east of the Millbridge Brook at Gamlingay, including six tranchet axes. No traces of prehistoric buildings were located, but pits and tree hollows containing prehistoric pottery were found. A possibly Neolithic pebble-hammer was recovered from the fill of an Anglo-Saxon sunken-featured building. Includes specialist reports on

Evaluation investigations conducted in and around the Wandlebury ringwork in 1994--97 revealed an extensive area of later prehistoric and Romano-British settlement, both inside and outside the surviving earthworks. There is every likelihood that an earlier Iron Age settlement was located on the hill-top prior to the construction of the first rampart and ditch in the fifth century BC, and this appears to have been located outside and to the southeast of a preceding post-built wooden enclosure (undated but possibly Late Bronze Age/very Early Iron Age). Settlement activity predominated in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, but in the later Iron Age was greatly reduced. A second rampart and ditch were constructed on the inner side of the first rampart in the first century BC and lasted on a less extensive scale into the earlier Romano-British period (first--second centuries AD). Features excavated inside and outside the ring consisted principally of pits, but with an indication of structures which might be revealed by further excavation. The pits were primarily used for grain storage, but there was also evidence of `closure deposits' including articulated animals, a male human skeleton (buried face down with his hands possibly bound), small pots, and decorative spindle whorls and bone plaques. Evidence for repeated episodes of grain storage and handling was documented using detailed micro-stratigraphic and bioarchaeological analyses. Other environmental analyses suggest that the economy relied on sheep husbandry in an already open chalk downland landscape throughout the Iron Age and that cattle were predominant in the Roman period. Other recent investigations in the vicinity of Wandlebury suggest that this was just one substantial settlement in a highly developed and extensively occupied landscape in later prehistoric and Roman times. Includes specialist reports on

Excavations at sites in the village of Chesterton between 1998 and 2002 have shed new light on its origins and early development. Late Saxon Chesterton appears to have been a polyfocal settlement, whilst in the post-Conquest period there is evidence for a planned settlement with intensive layout of property plots and a main axis perpendicular to the River Cam, probably relating to a ferry across the river. By the thirteenth century ditched divisions disappear, although continued occupation is apparent, mainly through the digging of pits. The settlement expanded in the thirteenth century, with the main axis shifting to become parallel to the river. Chesterton appears to decline in the fourteenth century, followed by partial recovery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The ceramic assemblage indicates that medieval and post-medieval pottery was probably obtained via Cambridge, whilst the cereals consumed were not being grown locally but were coming from an area with slightly damp, heavy soils. Occupation continues until the seventeenth century when there is a dramatic increase in activity. Although later truncation and the fact that no excavation areas included roadside zones mean that evidence is limited, these excavations represent the first substantial archaeological evidence for the history of Chesterton. Includes a specialist report on

The paper re-examines the artificial `canal' in Babraham Park that carries the diverted water of the River Granta past the Hall and the parish church. It concludes that it is part of an elaborate formal garden created in the late-seventeenth century by a member of the Bennet family.

Brief report on the last eight years of a project which ran intermittently from 1904 to 2000, aimed at recording interesting buildings and features of the county at risk of loss through decay, accident or deliberate destruction. Includes a small selection of old and new photographs from the collection.

Numerous brief, separately authored notes of archaeological investigations undertaken during 2003 in Cambridgeshire, arranged alphabetically by town or parish, and including a list of investigations producing little or no archaeological evidence.