Artefacts found at nature reserve

From the BBC News:

Human remains and Roman artefacts have been unearthed in an Iron Age ditch at a new nature reserve in Cambridgeshire.

Archaeologists made the discoveries at a former quarry at Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge, which is to open

to visitors for the first time in 100 years.

East Pit has been transformed by the Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust into a haven for wild flowers and birds.

English Heritage said it was "very significant" as the site of one of the few Iron Age ditches in the region.

Over the past few months, archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology East have been excavating the ditch.

They have found 300 fragments of Iron Age pottery that are being used to accurately date the monument.

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The Celt's Last Stand - Dozens of decapitated bodies found in Roman war grave unearthed on Olympics site

From the Mail Online By Daily Mail Reporter:

A 2,000-year-old war grave crammed with up to 50 headless bodies has been uncovered by workers digging a new road for the Olympics.

The Iron Age victims found in the ancient burial site are thought to have been slaughtered by the invading Romans in about AD43.

All of them had been decapitated and some had their limbs hacked off. It has been discovered in the heart of Thomas Hardy country, on Ridgeway Hill near Weymouth, Dorset.

The site is being dug up to make way for a so-called Olympic Highway, an £87million relief road in time for the 2012 games.

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Olympic Builders Unearth Iron Age War Grave

From Sky News:

The Iron Age victims are thought to have been slaughtered by the invading Romans in about 43AD.

The ancient burial pit was discovered on Ridgeway Hill near Weymouth, Dorset, close to Maiden Castle, Europe's largest Iron Age hill fort.

The site is being dug to make way for the so-called Olympic Highway, an £87m relief road for the 2012 Olympics.

Dave Score, project manager for Oxford Archaeology, which is managing the dig, said it was a "remarkable and exciting" discovery.

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Festival of British Archaeology 2009

News from Wessex Archaeology:

The Festival of British Archaeology (formerly National Archaeology Week) is your unique chance to discover and explore the archaeological heritage of the United Kingdom. During this two-week archaeological extravaganza, which will run from Saturday 18th July to Sunday 2nd August, you can take part in excavation open days, hands-on activities, family fun days, guided tours, exhibitions, lectures, ancient art and craft workshops and much, much more.

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Iron Age mystery may be solved

From EDP 24. VICTORIA NICHOLLS. Date: 04/06/2009:

Archaeologists will return to a 2,000-year-old site on Beccles marshes this summer in a bid to finally unravel the mystery behind it.

A team of students from Birmingham University will spend three weeks excavating on the iron-age site just outside the town.

Three long rows of wooden posts inserted into the ground were unearthed while flood defence work was being carried out on the marshes in 2006.

The purpose of the timber posts, which have been preserved in excellent condition in peat and run parallel to the river at one point but veer off towards the town across the marshes, has left archaeologists scratching their heads.

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