Diary from the Dig 2025

An archaeological dig will take place at Wandlebury Country Park from 28 April to 9 May. Wandlebury has been occupied for over 2,000 years and at its centre lies the remains of a nationally important iron-age hillfort, which is protected as an ancient monument. Students and staff from the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge and the Cambridge Archaeological Unit will be carrying out the excavations.

Dr Oscar Aldred, Senior Project Officer at Cambridge Archaeological Unit is looking forward to getting started, “The five-year investigations at Wandlebury are a really exciting opportunity to train the next generation of archaeologists and to re-tell the prehistory and history of a prominent site in the landscape. Our particular focus this year is to prepare the ground to answer important archaeological questions by assessing the inside of the hillfort, how well-preserved it is, as well as begin to gain a better understanding of the possible hillfort entrance.”

The Country Park is owned and cared for by local charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future, Allan Scott-Davies is the Estate Manager, “We are really pleased to be partnering with the archaeologists, and we are hoping that they will be able to uncover more about Wandlebury’s fascinating history. We run a popular Iron-Age Outdoor Education Programme for schools so it would be great to share that knowledge with the children when they visit. The last time we had archaeologists at Wandlebury our visitors loved seeing them in action and finding out more about their finds.”

The excavation runs from 28 April - 9 May with a public open day on Saturday 3 May 10:30-16:00. Site tours will also be available on both Saturdays, 3 and 10 May.

Day 1

by Kira and Imogen

Welcome back to wonderful Wandlebury! This year we have formed a new team of archaeologists, to once again excavate the first millennium BCE Iron Age Hillfort, found in the stunning Cambridgeshire countryside. If you kept up with our 2024 blog, you will remember that last year’s group were situated on the South Field, investigating the presence of a linear feature outside the hillfort’s defensive earthworks - leading to the discovery of a late bronze age ditch!

This year we have returned to excavate around 18 test pits and three trenches, hoping to assess the preservation of the hillfort’s interior, as well as find the possible entrance to the hillfort and continue excavations at the eastern end of Hill Figure Field/South Field, where human remains have once been found.

We’re hoping that our work this Spring will help us to understand anomalies in our past geophysical surveys and also plan future excavations that will take place over the next 5 years!

Today, in this spectacular sunshine, we have begun deturfing our test pits and clearing the first layer of topsoil using mattocks. This has already turned up Roman pottery, faunal remains, bullet casings, and even some ducklings!

The next two weeks will be even more exciting… and keep your fingers crossed that this incredible weather continues!

Day 2

by Oliver, Sam & Arlo

The work from yesterday continues (along with the exquisite weather!). Across all our test pits, we are working on clearing the rest of the topsoil and getting down into the subsoil, one step closer to the Iron Age.

That said, there’s been a resplendent haul of archaeological material coming out of these shallow layers. Based on the finds, the layers have been dated to the 19th Century. Said finds include porcelain, glazed pottery sherds and jagged shards of glass, not to mention some hefty chucks of metalwork. Inorganic material isn’t all, as animal bones are found alongside it. Needless to say, Wandlebury is already producing a wide range of wonders.

But wait! There’s more! Precious pieces of pottery (Medieval, Roman and Iron Age) have been pulled from the pits, probably emplaced by the landscaping work associated with the stately home that now stands here. There’s also been a hint of Neolithic flint!

New developments in pit 105 revealed a ditch, potentially used to deposit rubbish, which contained large animal bones and worked stone. Across other test pits we also had some cattle bones with possible butchery marks, building materials, and a pit which we cautiously hope may be Iron Age. See our beautiful archaeologists showing off some of today’s finds!

As we can see, Wandlebury is yielding a lot of exciting finds, but we’ve only really scratched the surface (quite literally). With sieves and shovels in hand, we continue down into the past.

Published April 2025

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