98 Archaeology 



Ditch, while Brent Ditch has no bank. All four appear to represent 

 attempts to hinder communication along the open chalk downland during 

 the Pagan Age. Burials of warriors with their weapons have been found 

 at Devil's Dyke and Fleam Dyke, beside the Worsted Street. Possibly 

 there were also burials in the Brent Ditch. At the Bran Ditch, groups of 

 decapitated skeletons have been found at two localities. They had associated 

 objects of this period. Excavations ' have shown that these linear earth- 

 works were, in all probability, constructed during the early wars of the 

 Heptarchy, when Penda of Mercia [c. 655) overthrew the rulers of 

 East Anglia. 



Other indications of warfare in early settlement times may be deduced 

 by finds of early swords, spears, shields, and human bones in the Cam 

 at Clayhithe, opposite the end of the Car Dyke. 



(2) The Early Christian Period. Generally speaking, this period has left 

 but the scantiest of material remains in the County. A few chance finds 

 may be seen in the University Museum. But in recent years extensive 

 cemeteries at Burwell and Shudy Camps have been explored. These appear 

 to belong to the period of overlap, and may perhaps have continued into 

 the eighth century. It is probable that another cemetery exists at Foxton, 

 while a burial at Allington Hill may perhaps be that of an important man 

 killed at the Dykes in the seventh century. 



(3) The Viking Age. Finds of small objects, weapons, and human 

 skeletons, at Hauxton Mill probably indicate trouble there about the year 

 870. Pottery of the Viking Age is now being recognised from many 

 localities, especially in the town of Cambridge itself, and, to a less extent, 

 down the Ouse Valley, while small crosses and grave slabs characteristic 

 of the district have been widely noted. 



But the chief finds relating to this period are the rich series of weapons 

 found in the rivers. For the most part, these may belong to the final 

 campaign when William I overcame the last resistance of Hereward the 

 Wake and his followers in the Isle of Ely. By this time, the Domesday 

 book (see Fig. 22) presents a complete picture of settlement in the County, 

 and sums up the economic activity of the Anglo-Saxon period. 



' Objects of the later part of the Roman period were found beneath the Fleajn 

 Dyke and Devil's Dyke, while skeletons of the Anglo-Saxon period and late Roman 

 pottery were found vrnder the vallum of the Bran Ditch. 



