Babraham Research Campus: Flood Compensation Scheme Phase 2. Archaeological Monitoring & Recording.

Abstract

In July 2013 the Cambridge Archaeological Unit carried out a programme of archaeological monitoring and recording during excavations for the second phase of the Flood Compensation Scheme at the Babraham Research Campus. This involved a topsoil and partial subsoil strip of two areas which lie close to the river frontage, thus 200m to the north-west of the archaeologically excavated R and D Land, and beyond the area of the main Roman settlement. No archaeology was revealed in Area A (0.28 ha), which in places was stripped down to the underlying chalk, but in Area B (0.39 ha) at the south end, a number of amorphous burnt flint spreads and pits of probable Neolithic - Early Bronze Age date were found during the digging of a balance pond and drain. These features were cut by a series of three narrow NW-SE to SSE-NNW trending ditches of probable Roman date. To the north-east of this excavation a field walk and metal detecting survey of the stripped topsoil revealed an interesting but mixed-up assemblage of material which included Mesolithic - Early Bronze Age flint, minor amounts of Roman pottery, lead scrap and a coin, plus a slightly better assemblage of Medieval metalwork including a well-preserved Henry III silver penny, a number of 12th-14th century copper-alloy buckles and straps, and a few Postmedieval - modern finds. The shallow depth of necessary excavation within this area meant that the natural flint-filled hollow and other features revealed during the trench evaluation in March 2012 were not re-examined.