The Effects of Agriculture on Selected Archaeological Sites within the Cambridgeshire County Farms Estate. MAFF/OAU Research Project

A series of 4 archaeological evaluations and one monitoring visit were carried out at locations on the Cambridgeshire County Farms Estate as part of a project looking at the effects of arable agriculture on archaeological sites. The work was carried out by the Archaeological Field Unit of Cambridgeshire County Council between 24th September and 2nd October 2001.
The work had three goals. Firstly to understand how arable farming effects archaeological remains. The second was to assess the success/failure of previous management strategies to lessen the impact of arable farming. The third aim was to record any archaeology that was encountered and add to the understanding of these important sites.
The results of the project vary, with each individual site having differing aims. Arable farming was clearly damaging archaeological remains at Isleham (Moor Farm), however continuing arable cultivation at Landbeach (Limes Farm) was not damaging archaeology, which was protected by a buffer of older plough soil. The sites which have recently been removed from ploughing regimes (Car Dyke Farm, Gallows Hill and Stonea Camp) have all been protected by reversion to grass. There has, in the case of Car Dyke Farm (Landbeach), been a worrying lowering of the water table, despite grass reversion.