Digging up the past of ancient communities

TREASURE TROVE OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL GEMS FOUND AT SHERFORD

- By ALISON STEPHENSON

EXCAVATIONS across the Sherford development - the new town on the edge of Plymouth - have uncovered a treasure trove of archaeological gems revealing evidence of continuous human habitation stretching back thousands of years.

The latest discovery is believed to be a Neolithic burial site found just metres from the well preserved Ice Age remains of mammals such as the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, wolf and hyena.

Evidence of Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman settlements have been found over the past year.

These findings show that Sherford has long been a place where communities have lived, worked, and transformed the landscape.

Recent investigations have taken place within Sherford Quarry where human bones, charcoal and pottery, believed to form part of a Neolithic burial site, have been found dating from around 4000 BC to 2000 BC.

Neolithic burial practices often involved burying just the bones of people in communal tombs or mounds. In this case, archaeologists believe the partial remains of two or three individuals were placed within a shallow depression in the ground.

The underground structure had an hourglass-like shape, with remains initially placed in the upper chamber before gradually falling through a narrow gap into a wider cavity below, where they remained undisturbed for thousands of years.