The Medieval News Blog has just carried a report on the excavations carried out in Cambridge as part of the University 800th anniversary activities.
The dig took place under the tea rooms of the central University offices (Old Schools) . It has produced Roman pottery as well as the first material evidence for Anglo-Saxon occupation of the site (dog bones, boundary marks, quarrying).
Richard Newman, site director with the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, said.
The dig has reached what would have been ground level in ancient times, before even the Saxons arrived. Cambridge was founded by the Romans, who occupied the area on the other side of the River Cam, and pieces of Roman pottery which were probably unearthed as the land was ploughed by later generations have also been found on the site.
In Anglo-Saxon times, a cluster of domestic properties started to emerge. The dog, which appears to date back to that period, would probably have been a valuable ally for the self-sufficient family that owned it.
Filed under: History , anglo-saxon, Cambridge
