Emily Chan
In northern England, archaeological remains dating as far back as 6,000 years ago were unearthed. The excavations were conducted before road construction took place. Among the finds were some artifacts from the Roman era, an early medieval building, and what may have been a prehistoric settlement.
Archaeologists were digging along the A66, a major road that stretches from west to east across northern England. It connects the counties of North Yorkshire and Cumbria.
The A66 follows the path of an ancient Roman road. However, that same path was used even before the Romans. So, in total, it has been in use for around 10,000 years.
“The route followed by the modern A66 through the Eden Valley and Stainmore Pass was ancient even when the Romans formalized it with their own road nearly 2,000 years ago,” Stephen Rowland, a project manager at Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, said in a press release.
He added that significant road and river intersections were “still marked by prehistoric monuments, Roman forts, and medieval castles. The surrounding valley has also been home to many communities since the end of the last Ice Age.
The latest excavations were carried out ahead of the A66 Northern Trans-Pennine Project, which is a plan to widen parts of the road.
Currently, Rowland and his team are halfway through excavating hundreds of trenches, searching for artifacts to piece together the historical events that occurred 10,000 years ago along the course of the major roadway.
So far, the team has encountered a number of finds, some dating back to 6,000 years ago. These finds included buried peat layers and ancient waterways that show how prehistoric humans in the area defined the structure of their landscape.
The researchers also discovered the remains of a settlement dating back to the Late Neolithic or Middle Bronze Age (1600 to 1200 B.C). The settlement had several key features, such as ditches, pits, postholes, and gullies.
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