Fenland Matters: Landmark Volume Reveals 16 Years of Archaeological Discovery

A new publication from the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research is shedding fresh light on the deep history of the Cambridgeshire fens. A Book of Sites: River Great Ouse floodplain and mid-stream islands investigation at Barleycroft Farm/Over, Cambridgeshire (2025), by Christopher Evans, Joshua Pollard and Mark Haughton, brings together more than 16 years of fieldwork undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit. For many years, the Department of Archaeology’s annual student training excavation, under the supervision of Professor Charly French and colleagues, contributed directly to this project, providing hands-on experience for Cambridge Archaeology students.

At over 700 pages, the volume represents the second in the CAU’s Barleycroft/Over series and offers a comprehensive account of investigations across 21 sites located on Barleycroft Farm’s eastern terrace and the mid-stream islands of the River Great Ouse near Over. The work forms part of a long-running research programme within Hanson Aggregates’ Needingworth Quarry, where large-scale excavation has created an exceptional opportunity to examine the archaeology of a dynamic riverine landscape.

Tracing a changing prehistoric landscape

The book foregrounds key issues in sampling strategies, analytical approaches to landscape and settlement distribution.

Among the most striking discoveries are three Early Bronze Age ring-ditches and two barrows. One barrow contained a primary cremation accompanied by carefully selected plant remains and plant fibre textiles, providing a rare glimpse into funerary practices from the period.

The other barrow illustrates a long and complex history: originally a Later Neolithic oval barrow, it was reworked into an Early Bronze Age pond barrow before being infilled with Middle Bronze Age midden deposits. An example of what the authors describe as 'monument erasure' and reinterpretation over time.

Settlement, ritual and extraordinary finds

Evidence for human activity extends even further back. Substantial Early, Middle and Late Neolithic occupations were identified across the area, with particularly dense concentrations of Grooved Ware settlements. These appear to represent episodes of settlement 'bunching', where communities clustered in specific locations.

One especially notable feature, described as a possible 'shaman’s pit', contained a human skull placed within an arrangement of antlers. The deposit also included plant remains of deadly nightshade (a 'flying' drug).

Later prehistoric activity is equally well represented. The researchers document four Middle Bronze Age field system 'blocks', two of which are associated with cremation cemeteries, while the others show evidence for substantial settlements, including longhouses.

The excavation also revealed a number of extraordinary features, including a large Early Bronze Age enclosure and a series of Late-period post alignments interpreted as “viewshed frames”; structures that may have framed lines of sight across the landscape.

While rooted in detailed site-based analysis, the scope of the volume extends well beyond the immediate study area. The volume includes River Great Ouse and southern Cambridgeshire distributional studies, and further afield still, the character of riverine mid-stream island archaeology is considered more widely.

The Late Neolithic ‘shaman’s pit’ and its accompanying finds surround

The Neolithic Oval Barrow-cum-Early Bronze Age round barrow set within the northwestern quarter of the large Early Bronze enclosure.

In conjunction, now issued digitally are a series of Fenland-themed allied McDonald Institute volumes. This includes the first of the Barleycroft/Over Project’s volumes of 2016, Twice-crossed River: Prehistoric and Palaeoenvironmental Investigations at Barleycroft Farm/Over, Cambridgeshire (Evans, C., with Tabor, J. and Vander Linden, M.).

Also now issued digitally are Evans and Hodder’s two Haddenham Project books (2006). The excavation of both the Upper Delphs causewayed enclosure and the Foulmire Fen long barrow – whose great mortuary chamber timbers were preserved – feature in its first book: A Woodland Archaeology: Neolithic sites at Haddenham.

The second, Marshland Communities and Cultural Landscape, from the Bronze Age to the Present Day includes the excavation of the alluvium-sealed HAD V Iron Age compound and the Snow’s Farm barrow-top Romano-Celtic shrine.

Professor Ian Hodder commented: “The establishment of the story of the changing landscape in the Barleycroft/Over area is a major achievement. It is wonderful to see the way the work at Haddenham has been extended to build a unique landscape legacy.”

Published 26 May 2026

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