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| Dr Will Bowden, at work with Hazel Massey, one of the volunteer amateur archaeologists uncovering ditches and roads around the outer wall of the Roman City at Caister St Edmund, part of the Roman Project [Credit: Denise Bradley/EDP24] |
Dr Will Bowden, of the University of Nottingham, who is leading the team, said the dig could reveal how the site was inhabited after the Roman period, following on from discoveries of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries nearby.
“We could find evidence of the Anglo-Saxon occupation, and what happened once the Roman town went out of use,” he said.
“We know where the people were when they were dead, but we don’t know where they were when they were alive.”
The settlement could include sunken-feature buildings of the kind seen at West Stow near Bury St Edmunds, though the team will not know until they get into the trench.
Trench sites were selected based on aerial photographs and geophysical surveys of the fields, and the weekend’s work began with preparing the site after the removal of topsoil, and the initial cleaning of the trench.
The dig is open to the public, and an exhibition has been set up by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, which owns the site, a scheduled ancient monument.
A family weekend will be held on Saturday and Sunday, when activities at the site will include guided tours, children’s excavations, appearances by a Roman soldier and potter, and lessons in Boudican war cries. The site is open seven days a week, from 9.30am to 5pm, until work finishes on September 1.
Author: Mark Shields | Source: EDP24 [August 13, 2012]