New Cemetery Site, Camel Road, Littleport, Cambridgeshire: Post Excavation Assessment

Abstract

Archaeological investigations were undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) at the site of a new cemetery to the north of Littleport, Cambridgeshire. Work was carried out over the course of four weeks between April 2016 and May 2016 and comprised excavations of a small plot within the development area that was identified for further work via archaeological evaluation undertaken in 2013. An area totalling 900m2 was stripped, to reveal archaeological material dating from the Middle Iron Age through to the Early Roman period, consisting of a series of dumps of industrial salt-production waste material. No associated features could be identified within the excavation area, even after further removal of capping deposits, therefore production is assumed to have taken place in the immediate vicinity. The site yielded a substantial finds assemblage of saltern-associated briquetage, as well as small amounts of animal bone, salt slag and pottery.