The Over Lowland Investigations, Cambridgeshire: Part 1 - The 1996 Evaluation

Abstract

During the autumn of 1996 a three month-long fieldwork evaluation programme was undertaken over a 116ha 'sail-like' or 'banner-shaped' area within three fields beside the River Great Ouse (I-III) immediately west of the village of Over. Commissioned by ARC Central, it represents the first five- year 'pull' of their Over quarry. With an expected lifetime of 25 years and extending over c. 550ha, this will probably be one of the largest exposures of wetland archaeology within Britain. The site is located at the junction of fen and river valley, and integration of environmental and archaeological researches is considered imperative. From the outset the fieldwork has been envisaged as, in effect, a (wet-) landscape laboratory - a testing ground for experimental methodologies, techniques and new ideas.