Archaeologists in Peterborough have hailed a number of ‘interesting’ finds in the village of Eye following excavation works ahead of a planned development.
Among the discoveries that the team from Allen Archaeology spent the last month unearthing include a Roman burial site, along with evidence of a corn dryer and a tile kiln.
The dig, located just off Thorney Road in the village, is being funded by Dalton Seeds; the company which will be using the site, next to its current base, to create a new building for seed and grain processing once the excavation is finished, which is expected to be in the next two weeks.
Prior to the development, however, a number of exiting discoveries have been made on the roughly 60 x 100m site/.
These include 14 Roman burials, which have been estimated to date back to the mid to late Roman period but before Christianity became widely accepted in the Roman Empire following the Edict of Milan issued by Emperor Constantine in 313 AD.
This is due to the bodies being buried north to south, while Christians burials were traditionally facing the east.
One unusual element of the burials is that a large number were ‘deviant burials.’ This means that the individuals were laid to rest in an atypical way, in this case the heads of the bodies were placed by the feet.
Scholars have debated whether the heads are likely to have been removed before or after death and the reason for doing so remains unclear.
The site, which was part of a rural Roman area, also shows signs of the presence of a corn dryer as well as large 15m long tile kiln, which has led to the discovery of a large amount Roman tiles.
These tiles are currently being processed, sampled and then the larger pieces that can tell important information about the site will be taken away to be archived.
The human bones have also been removed from the site and taken to be studied by experts.
Project Supervisor Matthew Humphreys said: “This site really is an interesting find.
“We can see evidence of industrial activity and estimate this dates back to the mid to late Roman period.
"This area appears to the part of a really busy semi-rural local landscape, an old and important route.
"We know that was a Roman Villa around four miles away at what is now Itter Crescent and there was several Roman settlements less than a mile away.
“We have lots of great examples of Roman tegula (L-shaped roof tiles), inbrex (curved roof tiles) and box flue tiles, designed to conduct heat and allow room walls to be heated.
"These and the vitrified clay (clay discoloured and hardened by extreme heat) are how we can say a kiln was located too.
"We have also had a number of interesting finds including a tile-lined burial for one of the bodies and as well as another being buried with some small ceramic vessels.
"All of the finds will be sent off for reports to be made and for the findings to be archived.”
3. Roman Excavation site in Eye
Well preserved examples of Roman tiles used to create the tile kiln. Photo: PT
