Biddenham Loop excavations

A selection of discoveries made in the Biddenham area over the last 10 years

The building of a new housing estate south of Biddenham village (3km (2 miles) west of Bedford) gave archaeologists a chance to look for evidence of past human activity. Cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and the discovery of single finds showed the area could contain important archaeological remains. In line with central government policy, and on the advice of the County Archaeological Officer, the developers were asked to carry out an archaeological excavation before building work could begin.

Palaeolithic Handaxes

 

A handful of handaxes, dated to around 200,000 years ago, have been found but no other evidence for this period of time has been recovered.

Human activity increased in this area around 10,000 years ago during the Middle Stone Age (or Mesolithic), which is shown by the number and distribution of finds relating to this period in time.

 

 

 

 Bronze Age Ring Ditches

The first large buried remains date from the later New Stone Age (or Neolithic) and Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago. These are monuments which were used for burials and ceremonial purposes. The most common type within this area are the ring ditches, which are believed to be the ploughed out remains of burial mounds

 

 

The location of settlement during this period is shown by  pits which appear to be peppered across the area in what were probably once small woodland clearings, and always away from the monuments.

 

 

Late Bronze Age Pit Alignments

The burial and ceremonial monuments went out of use and were not replaced in the middle Bronze Age. However, a major and fairly unusual landscape feature was constructed in the late Bronze Age-early Iron Age, around 2,700 years ago.. This comprised a 1Km long pit alignment which is the earliest boundary known in the area and formed one side of a large rectangular area bounded on the other three sides by the River Ouse.

Middle Iron Age Farmsteads

 

Evidence for a settlement was found nearby which almost certainly would have been the home of some of the people who dug the pits. After the pit alignment had gone out of use an early-middle Iron Age farmstead was built over it. This contained large storage pits for seed grain which shows that arable farming was an important part of daily life at this time.

 

Romano-British Cremation Burials

 

The area was heavily used before the Roman invasion. All the farmsteads occupied before the Conquest continued to be occupied after it. Around the farmstead a system of fields and trackways were laid out. Evidence for kilns was found suggesting that the inhabitants of the farmsteads made some of the large amount of pottery which was found in the area. Some of these pottery vessels were placed within graves and presumably contained liquid and food provided by relatives as sustenance for the dead in the afterlife.

Romano-British Shrine

 

The extensive nature of the development, and therefore the archaeological investigations, has allowed the land away from ancient farmsteads to be examined. Although some of this appears to be ‘blank’ and therefore may well have been wooded or used for pasture, this helps build up a picture of the overall landscape. One unusual Romano-British building was found in isolation from any other Romano-British activity and may have functioned as a shrine (see reconstruction drawing below).