2019-07-13_Archaeology_Magazine

bone tablet with cursive Latin writing.
Taken all together, it is an almost
incomprehensibly large archaeological
haul. “It’s kind of blown our minds,”
says Emma Jeffery, senior archaeologist
at MOLA Headland Infrastructure,
a consortium formed by Museum of
London Archaeology (MOLA) and the
contract firm Headland Archaeology,
which is responsible for the A 14
project. “Our sense of scale, and
everything else, has been completely
warped by it all.”
One of the many questions the A 14
archaeologists are investigating is why
this particular strip of land attracted
so many different groups of people

over such a long period of time. The
key draw may have been the natural
trade and communication routes that
crisscross the region, in particular
the River Great Ouse, which snakes
its way across the A 14 ’s path, linking
this inland area with the North Sea. “I
think it has a lot to do with the trans-
port networks,” says Jeffery. “You’ve
got the Great Ouse, as well as other
tracks and routes through the land-
scape that I think helped.” Sections of
the new A 14 partially follow the route
of a Roman road that once connected
the ancient towns of Godmanchester
and Cambridge.
Sherlock suggests that the region’s
geology may have been an even more
important enticement to settlers.
Much of Cambridgeshire is flat and its
lower-lying areas are prone to flood-

ing. But along the A 14 corridor, there

are pockets of land that contain gravel

substrata, which drain more easily, and

thus are more suitable for habitation.

“The geology is fundamental, really,”

explains Sherlock. “You could farm or

raise livestock in the wetter areas, but

people always chose the places where

there are gravels and thus drier land to

live on.”

W

hen archaeologists began

clearing the A 14 ’s proposed

route, it became readily

apparent that the Roman imprint on

the area was profound—but this was

to be expected. The emperor Claudius

invaded Britain in the mid-first century

a.d., and for the next 400 years, until

the end of the empire, the Romans rad-

ically transformed the island by build-

ing roads, towns, and military outposts

as part of an all-encompassing imperial

administrative system. Finding the

Romans anywhere in Britain is not dif-

archaeology.org 57

l gperiiodoftimeTh

A copper alloy brooch (above),

an enameled copper alloy

brooch (below), and a carved

jet pendant (left) depicting

the head of Medusa are among

the finely crafted Roman

objects found by the A14

archaeologists.

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