Investigation of Borrow Pit TEA28 BP3, Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, UK

Boismier, W. A., Allison, E., Ardis, C., Banerjea, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1786-357X, Batchelor, C. R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8923-0368, Dark, P., Dudgeon, K., Green, C. P., Henderson, E., Ladocha, J., Weinstock, J., Young, D. S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8700-8704 and Schwenninger, J. L. (2024) Investigation of Borrow Pit TEA28 BP3, Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, UK. Internet Archaeology, 67. ISSN 1363-5387 doi: 10.11141/ia.67.23

Abstract/Summary

This report provides a synthesis of the results for a Palaeolithic watching brief carried out at Borrow Pit TEA28 BP3 (NGR TL 3020 6779) as part of the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon road improvement scheme. A number of Late Pleistocene deposits was identified, recorded and sampled for environmental remains. Samples were also taken for optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL) and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating (AMS). Vertebrate remains and a very small assemblage of seven lithic artefacts were also collected from some of them. Stratigraphically the succession comprised a sequence of fluvial, floodplain and periglacial colluvial deposits. OSL age estimates indicated that they spanned the Middle-Late Devensian period (MIS 3-2; 60-15.4 ky), with sandy gravels at the base of the succession dating to c. 43495 ± 3635(X7465), and periglacial slope deposits at the top to c. 22570 ± 1570(X7457) and the last glacial maximum (MIS 2; c. 27-16 ky). Palaeobiological data from floodplain deposits indicated a treeless grassland and a temperate continental climate characterised by warm summers (16-17℃) and cool-cold winters (-11 to 4℃). The data also indicated a floodplain landscape occupied by a mosaic of ponds, marsh-fens, grassland, willow scrub and disturbed ground habitats. Microfabrics in thin-sections documented the presence of palaeosols and periodic inundation of the floodplain by overbank flooding. The abundance of dung beetles in the insect assemblage indicated the presence of populations of large herbivores. Vertebrate evidence for those herbivores comprised the partial remains of mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, bison, horse and reindeer. The small size of the lithic assemblage and its multiperiod make-up indicate that it represents a group of reworked artefacts produced by fluvial erosion and sediment deposition processes rather than in situ human activity.