Archaeologists have unearthed around 19,000 artifacts, dating from prehistory to the early medieval period, at a "once-in-a-decade" site in the United Kingdom.
The finds were uncovered during an excavation at the Calthorpe Gardens residential development, which is on the outskirts of the historic market town of Banbury, southern England, house builder Orbit Homes announced in a press release. The excavation has been taking place ahead of the construction of a new set of homes at Calthorpe.
The oldest artifacts uncovered during this dig—a series of flint tools—stretch back to the Mesolithic period, or Middle Stone Age, which in Britain lasted from roughly 10000 B.C. to 4000 B.C.
Researchers also uncovered remains from subsequent periods, including the remnants of a small settlement from the Late Bronze Age-Middle/Late Iron Age, and later Anglo-Saxon cemetery from the early medieval period. At least 52 individuals have been found at the burial ground so far.
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group living in Britain during the early medieval period who traced their origins to Germanic peoples that settled on the island after the period of Roman occupation ended around 410 A.D.
Among the artifacts uncovered from the Calthorpe site are finds from the Late Bronze Age-Middle/Late Iron Age settlement, including handmade pottery and textile tools. The settlement itself consists of several large enclosures, which were probably used as pens for animals, as well as the remains of roundhouses.
Researchers also uncovered a rich array of grave goods from the Anglo-Saxon burials, such as bead necklaces, pendants, personal objects and weapons.
"The grave goods are astounding, just in the volume, their style—there are so many different types of material," Janice McLeish, director of post-excavation services with Border Archaeology (BA), the consultancy in charge of the excavation, said in an Orbit Homes video.
"Within the assemblage, we've got glass beads, we've got metalwork, we've got some pottery. It's just a really remarkable assemblage to have on one site."
One of the highlights of the excavations was a "beautiful" gold pendant recovered from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, featuring pre-Christian animal iconography—namely, an intertwined serpent design.
"This is a once-in-a-decade site...with once-in-a-lifetime kinds of finds that are coming up—it's incredible," BA field archaeologist Hayley Parsons said in the video.
Another highlight is a "gorgeous" Iron Age weaving comb, which would have been used as part of a loom and weaving process, according to McLeish.
The finds at the Calthorpe site—now considered one of "significant" regional importance, according to Orbit Homes—will help to shed light on the lives of people who have lived in the area across several thousand years of history.
"I think the potential of the site is to show people were here over a very long period of time, doing different things at different times," McLeish said. "We've been so lucky at Calthorpe Gardens, we've been totally spoiled with the finds that have been recovered."
"Archaeology in itself is exciting, but when you get to cover so many time periods on the one site, it is just such a joy to do. The local area was very rich in archaeology. And the area in particular, on top of that hill has been a focal point since the Mesolithic, and possibly even before that. So people have been attracted to that location for a number of different reasons. And we're just seeing the glimpses of the people that have left their mark there."
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