Wilberforce Road, Cambridge: An Archaeological Interim Statement

Abstract

Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) were commissioned by St. Johns College, Cambridge (c/o Savills) to undertake open-area excavations on land south of Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0EQ prior to the site’s redevelopment into student accommodation. The site was split into two excavation Areas. They targetted a stretch of Roman road identified in a previous evaluation. In Area 1, the road surface had been badly damaged by medieval/post-medieval agricultural activity. However, despite this, several remaining pockets of gravelled/metalled road surface did survive. Extending along the western side of the road were three intercutting parallel ditches, whilst along the eastern side two further intercutting ditches were present, indicating this stretch of the road underwent some level of maintenance or slight realignment during its time in use. Seemingly buried within the sub-ballast material forming the eastern camber of the road a partial human burial was identified and recorded. Area 2 was much more heavily disturbed than Area 1, and unfortunately no evidence of the road layers such as the sub-ballast or gravelled/metalled surface survived. However, two roadside ditches were present, and aligned with the two main ditches identified within Area 1.