OA East recently undertook an excavation at an important Iron Age and Roman site near Buntingford

The excavation at Hare St Road has discovered important archaeological remains from the Iron Age and early Roman periods. A middle Iron Age (c.300-100 BC) round house and farmstead was found beneath the old allotment site of Hare Street. Near to the Iron Age House was a large ditched enclosure, where cattle would have been kept and we found a number of with 'four post' structures for the storage and dispensing of fodder for the animals. The settlement continued to be lived in for several hundred years and into the later Iron Age when the inhabitants built a second large ditched enclosure in the north of the site, across what would once have been a small stream. This occupation lasted until the 1st century AD and the Roman invasion of Britain after which time the farmstead was abandoned. The Roman period saw the expansion of town life and the people living here may well have been incorporated into new towns and villages along the Roman road of Ermine Street. In this way the archaeological remains revealed at Hare Street Road have shed an interesting light onto the origins of Buntingford.

Following excavation, OA East's Outreach and Learning Officer visited Edwinstree Middle School to give the whole school (450 students and staff) a taste of their local heritage. The students had the opportunity to handle finds from the site and learn about what archaeologists do.

Oxford Archaeology is an educational charity committed to assisting the public in learning about their past. If you would like archaeologists to visit your school, do check out our Schools page for a full list of activities and resources.