New excavations shed fresh light on Caistor Roman Town

The new dig at Caistor St Edmund is shedding new light on the Iron Age people who lived there before the Romans arrived - by rooting through the rubbish they left behind.

Excavations at Caistor Roman Town on the grounds of Caistor Hall (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Volunteers and experts are excavating trenches on land at Caistor Hall Hotel, close to the walled area which was known as Venta Icenorum in Roman times.

The community-led Caistor Roman Project excavations are close to the site of a temple on the edge of modern-day Caistor St Edmund, south of Norwich.

Pits containing Iron Age material are being excavated at Caistor St Edmund (Image: Sonya Duncan)

And Iron Age finds are backing up a theory that the town - once home to the Iceni tribe - grew from an earlier settlement focused in that area.

Up to 50 people a day have been digging in the trench, examining what appear to be Iron Age pits.

Excavations at Caistor Roman Town on the grounds of Caistor Hall (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Professor Will Bowden, from the University of Nottingham, said: "We don't know why they were digging these pits. It's possible they were excavating clay.

"But they then backfilled them with rubbish. We think of that as rubbish, but they were probably choosing what to put in them, potentially for ritualistic reasons.

Finds from the dig at Caistor St Edmund (Image: Sonya Duncan)

"We are finding lots of pieces of pottery and lots of animal bones. The animal bones are useful because it enables us to build up a picture of what people were eating."

A satyr figure on pottery unearthed during the dig near Caistor Roman Town in the grounds of Caistor Hall (Image: Sonya Duncan)

While some of the pottery is from the Roman period - including fragments from fruit bowls showing a satyr and a female warrior figure - Iron Age pieces are evidence of the people who lived there before the Romans invaded.

Prof Will Bowden (Image: Dan Grimmer)

Prof Bowden said: "We are finding a lot of late Iron Age material turning up in these pits.

"I've been spending the past 18 years thinking about why this settlement developed here, so this is useful information.

"There's very much a transition between the late Iron Age and the Roman period.

"We start to see how local people are beginning to use other materials.

"When people think about the Roman town, they tend to think the Romans came and everyone else, including the Iceni, left.

Excavations at Caistor Roman Town in the grounds of Caistor Hall (Image: Sonya Duncan)

"But the archaeology tells us that wasn't the case. The reality is that it's the same people living here throughout.

"It's a more cosmopolitan place but the Iceni are still here. That, after all, is why the name is Venta Icenorum - because of the Iceni."

One discovery which has left archaeologists scratching their heads is a pit, which has been deliberately lined with lumps of flint and a tile which would have been part of a Roman heating system.

Archaeologists are baffled as to why one of the pits has been lined with flint nodules - and a piece of Roman tile (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Prof Bowden said: "I have never seen anything like that before, so answers on a postcard, please!"

Those taking part in the dig include students and people who live nearby, many of whom have been involved in excavations in the area for years.

Members of Wings to the Past, an RAF personnel support organisation, are also taking part in the excavation and Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, paid them a visit on Wednesday (August 28).

Former British Army head Lord Dannatt visited the dig at Caistor St Edmund (Image: Sonya Duncan)

Venta Icenorum first triggered interest more than 90 years ago after the RAF took a series of aerial photographs during a hot summer.

Aerial photographs taken in 1928 revealed the layout of the Roman town (Image: Newsquest Archive)

Those 1928 photographs of the parched field, published in The Times, revealed the Roman town's layout of streets and buildings and led to excavations in the 1930s.

There have been more recent excavations, led by the Caistor Roman Project, which have revealed more about the town.

Remains at Caistor Roman Town (Image: Archant)

• The latest dig continues until Saturday, August 31, when there will be a family activity day between 10am and 3pm.