Possible Prehistoric Settlement Among Finds From 'Unique' Highway Dig

A "unique" excavation project being conducted ahead of road improvement works in Northern England has uncovered archaeological remains from various periods of history, dating as far back as 6,000 years ago.

Among the highlights of the excavations are a possible prehistoric settlement, a potential early medieval building and Roman-era artifacts.

The excavations are taking place along the A66, a major road that runs west to east across the region, connecting the counties of North Yorkshire and Cumbria. The A66, in part, follows the course of an ancient Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith, although this roadway has an even longer history, having been in use for around 10,000 years.

"The route followed by the modern A66 through the Eden Valley and Stainmore Pass was ancient even when the Romans formalized it with their own road, nearly 2,000 years ago," said Stephen Rowland, project manager at Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, in a press release.

"Significant road and river junctions and crossings are still marked by prehistoric monuments, Roman forts, and medieval castles, whilst the fertile valley has supported communities since the end of the last Ice Age," he said.

The latest excavations were initiated ahead of an upgrade scheme—part of the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project—that will widen parts of the road.

"We're currently half-way though excavating hundreds of trial trenches within the footprint of the proposed project," Rowland said. "There's lots more work to do and finds to be made as we seek to tell the story of 10,000 years of human history along the course of one of Northern England's most significant routeways."

So far archaeologists have uncovered a number of finds over the past months, with some dating back around 6,000 years. These include buried peat layers and ancient waterways that reveal how prehistoric Cumbrians shaped their landscape.

The researchers also found the remains of a settlement dating to the Late Neolithic or Middle Bronze Age (1600 to 1200 B.C.) and consisting of several features, such as ditches, postholes, pits and gullies. The excavations also yielded numerous stone tools and pottery fragments at the site.

In another area, archaeologists discovered a potential early medieval grubenhaus—a building typically built above a large rectangular pit—with unusual dimensions.

The team also found evidence of Roman farmsteads and small villages, complete with various artifacts such as fragments of luxurious tableware imported from modern-day France and a copper alloy broach.

"The findings are growing in number with each day of our works, and we're regularly revealing features such as pits, postholes, and gullies that indicate where people settled in the past," Rowland, Helen Evans—another project manager for the excavations—and stone tool expert Antony Dickson, told Newsweek.

"Even at this early stage, preliminary examination of artifacts and radiocarbon dating of charred material from a targeted selection of features reveals that the findings are significant on a range of levels and for several reasons. At the moment, perhaps the most important thing is that we're getting such a broad chronological sweep through the human history of the Eden Valley.

"Overall, it looks like there's an opportunity to reveal a wealth of information to help us understand the multi-faceted lives of the countless generations who have inhabited the artery of Cumbria and, perhaps, in microcosm, the heart of Britain."

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Update 3/28/24, 1:25 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include additional comments from Stephen Rowland, Helen Evans and Antony Dickson.