A Buried Prehistoric Landscape at Barnack

An archaeological evaluation was conducted at Barnack, Cambridgeshire by Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeology Section in an area rich in cropmarks and near the site of the Barnack Man Bronze Age burial. Augering and field walking were conducted and test pits were dug, along with a series of seventeen trenches. A rich series of agricultural and ritual features were identified including a hengiform monument. Rinf-ditches and a late Iron Age/Roman trackway. The most important discovery was the recognition of an extensive late Iron Age/Roman ploughsoil over much of the area.

The features are sealed by a Post-Roman alluvium and so well preserved and a river channel in the east of the sire yielded peat including waterlogged wood (radiocarbon dated to 15 AD) and clay which will allow environmental research to support the stud of the the archaeological agricultural and ritual landscapes.

One particular feature in the section of the present quarry, yielded three human burials which have been radiocarbon dated to the Bronze Age, 1908 BC.