Possible Iron Age to Roman cemetery at Widdington (C-MG3) (EHER 45232)

Cambridge to Matching Green pipeline Site 3. The archaeological activity in 2001-2002 for the pipeline revealed an extensive Roman burial ground with high status goods. Three phases of activity were identified: a pre-Roman phase, and then an early and later Roman phases.

2001-2002. Fieldwalking. Fieldwalking detected a scatter of Roman pottery including Samian ware. <1> 2001-2002. Geophysical survey. Geophysical anomalies indicated pits and a linear feature extending for about 130m. <1> 2001-2002. Excavation. Pre-Roman features comprised two groups of ditches that were probably component parts of two or more fields or other enclosures, the possible remains of a stone burial cist and a pond. None of these features contained reliable dating evidence and so the date of their construction (and indeed whether they were contemporary components of a single landscape or were widely separated in time) remains unclear. They have been grouped here into a single phase of activity only because they would all seem to predate the earliest cemetery activity and associated land uses. One possible indicator that the pre-Roman activity on site had a funerary aspect was the remains of a possible disturbed cist burial. These comprised two large slabs of micaceous sandstone and a number of smaller pieces. The large slabs each measured approximately 0.6 x 0.5 metres and were 70mm thick. They were observed lying against the inner, west facing side of the earlier cut of the phase 2 cemetery enclosure ditch, within its primary fill. Some pieces of stone were embedded on edge in the clay substrate, suggesting that they were still in situ. A single sherd of abraded pottery, possibly of Iron Age date, was found in association with the stone slabs. Early Roman features comprised a large curvilinear enclosure and adjacent enclosed cemetery. A large and closely datable pottery assemblage, recovered predominantly from the graves but also from a variety of non grave related features, indicates that activity in this phase commenced in the immediate post-Roman conquest period, was relatively intense up until about the end of first quarter of the second century, then carried on at a much reduced level of intensity into the later second or just possibly the very early third century AD. It then appears to have ceased until burial activity recommenced in the very late third century AD. The cemetery was located within a rectangular ditched enclosure. Its northern and western extents lay wholly within the limits of excavation and the start of the southern return ditch was exposed, although most of that ditch lay outside of the area of excavation. On its eastern side the cemetery was bounded by the ditch of the curvilinear enclosure, the gap in which opened directly into the cemetery. A single section was excavated across the cemetery 's western ditch, and its north eastern junction with the curvilinear enclosure was investigated. In each case the cemetery enclosure ditch would appear to have been of two-phase construction. The earlier, innermost cut, which was in excess of 1m wide and 0.5m deep, contained pottery sherds dating to the second half of the first century; the recut which was of similar dimensions, contained material dating to no later than the first half of the second century AD. Neither cut contained any late Roman material. Nineteen graves can be confidently ascribed to this phase of activity, on the basis of the datable pottery assemblages they contained. These are catalogued as 'Securely Dated Graves', below. The first twelve catalogue entries in that section contained pottery (usually Samian) forms and sometimes fabrics that can be dated with precision; the succeeding seven graves owe their dating to longer-lived coarse wares. All of the graves in the first category were probably cut by the end of the first century AD, unless some of the vessels had been curated before burial. In every case but one, the less precisely datable assemblages probably indicate burials dating to before the end of the first quarter of the second century AD, but could date to later in the second century. One grave could date to the second half of the second or even the very early third century. Two further unenclosed cremations were excavated during the permanent presence watching brief in the same plot, to the immediate west of the site, on the lower slopes of the west facing valley side of the river Cam. These cremations remain undated but are likely to be phase 2 burials if they follow the pattern of change in the burial rite revealed by formal excavation on the site under discussion. These cremations are reported upon more fully in the report on the results of the watching brief, in volume 2. A second phase of later Roman burial (this time inhumation burial) commenced in the late third and ran throughout the fourth century. The curvilinear enclosure had ceased to exist as a bounded space by this time: its earlier ditches had completely silted up and gone out of use. A small amount of evidence was recovered to indicate that it was utilised as an open space, but the nature of that use is again not clear. A two-celled rectangular enclosure was constructed to the east of this space at this time and a further possible enclosure or structure was sighted to the east of that. Twelve graves or probable graves can be confidently assigned to this phase on account of the pottery accessory vessels or other pottery sherds that they contained. These have been catalogued as 'Securely Dated Graves', below. Ten further graves contained no or only very loosely datable cultural material and did not cut firmly dated features. These undated graves are likely to be late for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is now well established that inhumation burial became the predominant burial rite in Britain from around the late second or early third century, and all of the burials in this category are inhumations. Secondly, it is now equally well established that burial goods were far less frequently deposited in graves in the late than they were in the early Roman period; and all graves in this category are defined by an absence or paucity of grave goods. Finally, two of the undated burials were oriented west to east (which often supersedes south to north burial as the preferred orientation in late Roman burial contexts) and were located on the periphery of the cemetery. Nevertheless, because their dating is insecure, these latter graves have been catalogued separately, as 'Insecurely Dated Graves'. <2> - <4> 2008. Aerial photography. In 2008 a cropmark of a rectilinear enclosure, approximately 95m by 72m was mapped as part of OARPE (Online Aerial Reconnaissance Project in Essex), this enclosure has a possible macula or pit in the south-west corner, with a possible second, curvilinear enclosure, approximately 58m by at least 108m, over or under lying. The south-east portion of these enclosures is missing. It is possible that these enclosures represent the settlement that is thought to be associated with burials that were excavated during the pipeline work. 290m to the south-west is a faint cropmark of a possible further rectilinear enclosure. <5> <6>