Archaeologists from the University of Cambridge have been excavating an area on the Addenbrooke's site where the new cancer research centre is to be built. They have found evidence of a major late Iron Age/early Roman settlement, which spans the Roman Conquest of the mid-first century AD.

Discoveries include a Roman Road, a cemetery, pottery kilns and a number of 'post' built houses. Excavation during the original development of the New Addenbrooke's site in 1967 revealed a large ditched enclosure from the late Iron Age with an associated settlement.

A unique find was made here that confirms this site as one of the most important to the region in recent years. A piece of late Iron Age 'folk art' was discovered in a well. It is made up of a brick sized piece of soft clunch stone that has been engraved with linear circular and chevron patterns.

The century preceding the Roman Conquest marked an important period of change, as south east England came into contact with the Romanised world (via Gaul). Evidence includes new burial rites such as cremation, new ways of dressing and grooming, the use of wheels in pottery and the widespread adoption of coinage.

Falling on the northern limits of this sphere of influence, this major site; one of the largest ever to occur in the Cambridge area, will surely provide crucial insights into the nature of foreign contact and what it meant to the lives of the region's populace. Early indications point to this being a major settlement in its own right, perhaps an 'oppida' type settlement comparable to ones like Baldock.

The Cambridge Archaeological Unit is part of the University's Department of Archaeology. The Unit's pioneering methods have been successful on sites in Cambridge, Eastern England and on a number of important international projects in China, Beirut and Nepal.