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A community archaeology project at Boxworth is being funded by a grant from the Local Heritage Initiative (LHI), with support from South Cambridgeshire District Council and the Council for British Archaeology (Mid Anglia). The excavation took place on pasture land owned by Mr Parish. It uncovered a wealth of finds relating to people who lived and farmed in and around the village hundreds of years ago.
The excavation ran for four-weeks in the summer of 2004 and was organised by Mr Ian Taylor and the Boxworth Village Research Group. The project was designed to involve local people in their own heritage through hands-on experience. Training in digging, recording and finds processing was provided throughout the excavation by Cambridge County Council’s Archaeological Field Unit.
Large amounts of pottery and other finds spanning the Iron Age and Roman to early medieval periods were recovered from a range of features including ditches, pits and a possible kiln. Objects of particular interest include part of a pottery Roman face, a fragment of shale bracelet and a bone whistle.
Since the end of the excavation, the Village Research Group have been working hard on cleaning, cataloguing and organising all the finds and records from the dig in preparation for a report due out later this year.
An open day, including site tours and a display of some of the best finds, was held at the end of the project. Earlier this year, an exhibition of finds was held in Boxworth Village Hall to coincide with the reconstruction of a Roman pottery kiln. All the local schools visited the project during the excavations.
The group have also reconstructed a Roman pottery kiln in the village, based on one found during the excavations. Ian Taylor built the kiln with help from Terry Dymot, and Rod and Evie Deaval. The kiln proved to be a great success; pots fired in the kiln were made by Elsworth school children, Ian Taylor and Chris Lydamore from Harlow Museum. Channel 4’s Time Team filmed the building, firing and opening of the kiln; the programme was shown on the 4th July 2005.
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