Bronze Age, Roman and Anglo- Saxon Remains at North-West Ely, Cambridgeshire (Field D Extension)

Between the 30th of November and 17th of December 2020 Oxford Archaeology East (OA East) undertook a c. 0.5ha open area excavation on land to the north of Cam Drive and west of Lynn Road, Ely, north-west of the historic core of the city (centred on NGR TL 5451 8236). The site lies in a larger parcel of land designated for development as part of the Ely Masterplan. Previous archaeological works across the whole development area, in the form of a geophysical survey and trial trench evaluation, had identified dense areas of archaeology, including a Middle Iron Age farmstead, Early Roman fields and an Early Roman settlement, along with Neolithic, Bronze Age and post-medieval activity. Previous excavation of the Field D plot (ECB4948, to the north and east of the current site) had revealed Romano-British roadside ditches and an Early Anglo-Saxon cemetery, and it was thought that the road, and possibly the burials, would continue to the south. The excavation of the current extension area revealed, as expected, the line of the Roman roadside ditches, but only a single Anglo-Saxon inhumation burial in the middle of the road. In addition, two pits were identified that contained near complete cremation urns (the urns were Romano-British) and cremated human bone. Also revealed were Bronze Age pits (including a watering hole) and a series of post-medieval furrows aligned east to west across the site. Both the Bronze Age pits and the post-medieval furrows can be related to activity identified in the 2017 excavation of the main area. The finds assemblage recovered from the site included a metalwork assemblage of 19 iron nails and a copper alloy pin, 15 sherds (240g) of Middle and Late Bronze Age pottery, 76 sherds (647g) of Early Iron Age pottery, 211 sherds (1506g) of Roman pottery, two sherds (5g) of medieval pottery and seven sherds (85g) of post-medieval pottery. Also recovered were four struck flints, three fragments (8g) of clay tobacco pipe from the 16th century AD onward, a single fragment (7g) of mortar and a small quantity of animal bone deriving from cattle and sheep/goat. A single poorly preserved cereal grain was recovered from the site.