| The end of a successful dig |
| 24/08/2025 |
| Sunday saw the last work on the Ickleton dig. Early work proved the presence of two ditches, as indicated by the geophysics, one not so big which was a double side-by-side ditch and the other a much bigger affair. Finds from the double ditch included animal bone and a few pieces of Iron Age pottery. Few finds came from the top of the big ditch in the early stages. As we dug down it became obvious that the ditch went down even further and a small sondage showed it went much further. Call in the digger!! This showed just how deep the ditch was, measured from the top of the soil it went down nearly 2 meters, as shown in the photograph.
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| The star find from the deep ditch was a number of pieces of Iron Age pottery from just above the "ankle breaker" at the bottom of the ditch. As the photograph shows they are decorated by ridges probably made by brushing the surface with small twigs or similar. There is a piece of base with some side wall which will help decide the shape. These will go for expert analysis. | |  |
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| Ickleton gets underway |
| 9/08/2025 |
Friday saw the start of our excavation at Ickleton. Luckily for us there was a digger on hand to remove the topsoil and get us down onto the archaeology - a luxury we do not usually have. There was some confirmation of the geophysics that led to this dig but the rock-hard soil was a constraining influence - mattocks to the fore.
Initial work revealed very few finds but eventually there were some bone fragments and some Iron Age pottery to keep us going. The final story has yet to be written. | |  |
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| Another event |
| 17/07/2025 |
| After the sunny events at Arbury and Chesterton, we had another event at Wimpole for National Archaeology Week. The conditions could not have been more different - we were rained on both days- but the people still came. Although the numbers were less than hoped for we still had conversations with quite a few people, including people from abroad. A particularly interesting one was with a Portuguese heritage person who was amazed at what we can achieve - in Portugal all archaeology is strictly government controlled. The photograph shows just after setup and before the rains came. | |  |
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| A venture into the unknown |
| 14/6/2025 |
We have had stands at archaeology-based exhibitions in the past but this weekend we had a venture into the realm of the community-based events, in this case the Arbury Carnival. The intention was to have a presence in a local event to judge what sort of response we might get and hopefully recruit some new members.
We are going to be at the Chesterton Festival this coming weekend, after which we will see if we should carry on at local events | |  |
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| Our last weekend at Ickleton for now |
| 8/6/2025 |
| This was our last weekend field walking as the crop growth at Ickleton had reached the point where surface visibility in some places was very poor. However, the finds kept coming and more flints were collected. An interesting find was the Metropolitan ware handle with its zigzag decoration. This field has produced quite a number of handles, probably more than many other fields. | |  |
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| Continuing work near the Gas Compressor station |
| 1/6/2025 |
| On a fine but windy day we carried on with the field near the Gas Station at Ickleton/Duxford (technically in Hinxton parish). The photograph shows the typical finds we recovered. Lots of glazed and unglazed red sandy ware pottery, even more brick and tile (mostly left in situ) but very little modern pot. The number of handles among our finds is quite interesting but the clay pipe is one of only a few we have found. The oyster shell is also one of only a few from this site. There is a small quantity of the grey ware, mostly early medieval. However, we did recover quite a few worked flints this time - is this because we are getting more practice? The field is covered in broken flint which makes life difficult. | |  |
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| However, the star find was this leaf shaped arrowhead, spotted by one of our eagle-eyed lady walkers. It is only 2.25cm long by 1.28cm wide so really quite small. | |  |
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| More work near the National Gas Compressor Station, Hinxton |
| 25/5/25 |
| This field continues our work on Abbey Farm, Ickleton land. As the photograph shows, we had quite a bit of pottery from all periods, medieval to modern. The large strap handle with thumbed decoration looks decidedly medieval as does some of the gray and red sandy wares. Then there are some Metropolitan slipware sherds, a nice salt glaze stoneware handle and a piece of Blue & White transfer ware. There was also plenty of brick and tile with quite a bit of flint. | |  |
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| Just some of the flints picked up. There are some blade-like pieces along with more primary flakes. The quantity of flint on the ground makes detecting worked flints quite difficult and we may well have left some behind. | |  |
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| Ickleton near the M11 |
| 27/4/2025 |
| First impressions are of a field full of broken flint and masses of small pieces of tile, mostly modern. However, as the photograph shows, there were some interesting bits as well, For example, the spike foot probably from a pipkin and the rim of some Harlow (or Metropolitan) ware. There were also some thin sandy ware that looks medieval plus the inevitable quantities of red glazed wares. This is only part of the finds and more will follow. | |  |
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| Hard work near The Belts |
| 13/4/2025 |
As a result of some geophysics results for fields north of The Belts, the National Trust asked us to carry out field walking on the fields concerned. We had two days of hard work covering the area involved. The suspicion was that the sites were of Iron Age or Roman date, would there be surface finds to determine which (or both) were correct. The evidence is mixed - as the photo shows we have some Roman building material (a tegula) also a possible brick/tile which may be Roman or medieval. There is also some very Iron Age looking pottery. Our final analysis will produce a more refined answer later on.
No field walking this coming Sunday as it is the Easter weekend - wishing all a happy weekend. | |  |
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| SUSAN MAY |
| 16/3/2025 |
We have received the sad news that Susan May, one of the founding members of the group, passed away at home on Wednesday 12th March after a short illness. Sue was a long-time and efficient secretary of the group, a diligent researcher of documents, a careful excavator and enthusiastic field walker who found even the smallest of artefacts.
She will be missed by all. | |  |
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| Presentation of the Val Whittaker prize |
| 5/2/2025 |
| Our new President's first action was to present the Val Whittaker prize to the winning student, as shown in the photograph. Balint Beremenyi from Emmanuel College won it with his paper entitled "The Seal of the Necropolis in the MAA Cambridge". His excellent presentation described the Seal and documented efforts to date it with reference to its iconography and to similar objects. | |  |
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| Our new President |
| 6/2/2025 |
| As we go into our 2025 season, we do so with a new President following Dr. Paul Spoerry's reirement from the role. Stephen Macaulay has links with CAFG going back many years and we welcome him to our group. His role as Regional Manager for Oxford Archaeology (Cambridge Office) enables us to continue using their Bar Hill premises for our finds processing and Wednesday meetings. We also benefit from his years of experience of the local archaeology scene and his leadership of the continuing Jigsaw Community. |
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