Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 96

Report on an archaeological excavation undertaken in 2005 on land at Lynton Way, Sawston, Cambridgeshire. The excavation revealed the southern part of a D-shaped enclosure, with an entrance located on its southeast side; the ditches extended beyond the limits of the excavation but the remainder of the enclosure and its associated field systems have been identified in an aerial photographic assessment. Along with further enclosures identified to the southwest, the excavated enclosure might have been part of a wide-reaching unified system of land apportionment. Close to its entrance, the enclosure ditch was cut by a large pit which might have had symbolic significance. In the northwest corner of the excavation, within the enclosure, two partial concentric circles of postholes and stakeholes were identified and interpreted as representing a roundhouse. Artefacts were sparse but the pottery and struck flint assemblages were consistent with the date of c. 1100 BC indicated by radiocarbon dating. Separately authored contributions include

The extensive late prehistoric and Roman site at Whittlesford, first discovered in the early-nineteenth century, is re-examined and re-interpreted. The paper aims to publish the historiography of an archaeological site that has been misinterpreted in the past, to describe the results of a Local Heritage Initiative Project and to examine some of the problems with interpretation that have emerged.

Report on an excavation and watching brief carried out in 2004--5 at Parnwell, Peterborough, providing an opportunity to investigate an extensive area of the clay hinterland adjacent to the gravel terraces surrounding Flag Fen. The earliest occupation took the form of a cluster of Early Neolithic pits. Subsequent activity in the Early Bronze Age was represented by a looser scatter of pits, which contained Collared and Biconical Urn pottery. A small area of Later Iron Age settlement was found at the southern edge of the site, with occupation probably continuing without a break into the Roman period, when a more substantial enclosed settlement was established. Features associated with the Romano-British settlement included a corn-drier, which had been used for roasting malt. The settlement lay within an extensive field system, which also contained a small cremation cemetery. Pollen evidence suggests that there was some regeneration of scrub or woodland following the abandonment of the settlement in the third century AD. Anglo-Saxon features consisted of fifty-seven pits with burnt fills scattered across the site, radiocarbon dated to the seventh to ninth century cal AD. These were probably associated with charcoal production, with no evidence of contemporary settlement in the immediate area. Cropmarks indicating ridge-and-furrow cultivation show that the site was cleared and put under arable use at some point in the medieval or early post-medieval periods. Separately authored contributions include

An excavation carried out on land adjacent to Litlington parish church found boundary ditches dating from the sixth to the tenth centuries AD and eleventh to thirteenth centuries AD. three undated inhumation burials are thought to be broadly contemporary with the earliest ditches, which may have demarcated the eastern limit of a burial ground connected to an earlier church. Separately authored contributions include

An Early Saxon building containing an assemblage of pottery was found next to a horse burial. These, together with the remnants of other buildings and a network of ditches, suggest the possibility of early settlement of the area of Fowlmere. Separately authored contributions include

Small-scale investigations in and around Ely Cathedral have provided insights into the development of the area. There is evidence of Late Iron Age and Roman settlement at Walsingham House and the Lady Chapel. The earliest evidence that might relate to the medieval religious community is a Middle Saxon pit at the Lady Chapel. Late Saxon activity is represented by buildings and other features, including a charnel pit at the Lady Chapel and evidence of substantial structures at the Bishop's Garden. Following the foundation of the cathedral, there is evidence for a twelfth-century cemetery at the Lady Chapel. This was followed by a thirteenth-century passage linking the Presbytery to a building or gate lying to the north. In the fourteenth century, this passage was rebuilt and linked to the North Choir and the Lady Chapel. At the Old Bishop's Palace there is evidence of an earlier substantial thirteenth- and fourteenth-century stone building that might be the `Abbot's House' and a fourteenth-century cemetery.