Archaeologists preparing the ground for a new building at West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village in Suffolk have discovered remains of three pit buildings dating back 1500 years.
The find was unexpected, being a little distance from the main village, close to the visitor centre. The remains consist of three large pits, filled with a mysterious black substance. Analysis of the material may help answer the long standing question about the purpose of the pits.
The process of excavation will destroy the pits, leaving behind just their shadows. The archaeologists are due to leave the site by 31 December, so that work on the new heritage service building can proceed. The find will be fully documented for academics to use. West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village is an experimental archaeological site, an original early Anglo-Saxon settlement where buildings have been reconstructed based on just such evidence as is being uncovered now.
Cllr Lynsey Alexander, St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Culture and Sport said:
"It is a credit to the academic rigour of the archaeological and Heritage Services that the nature of these finds is recognised and their value revealed. Like many other visitors, I am intrigued to know what the black stuff is and what it did."
Alan Baxter, Heritages Services Manager at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, which owns the site, said:
"The process of revealing West Stow’s Anglo Saxon past is fascinating. Some of the tools are the same ones used by Stanley West, when the original excavations were done in the 1960s. And it is tantalising to see these pits appear only to fade away again. However the secrets that they yield will enhance our understanding of Anglo-Saxon life, and give visitors to the village an in-depth experience of how it would have felt to live in the original thriving community."
The new building, with a sympathetic timber façade in keeping with the site, will house heritage displays, study facilities and storage. It is due to open in summer 2008.
ENDS
ISSUED BY SALLY EASTON, COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, ST EDMUNDSBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL, Tel 01284 757046 sally.easton@stedsbc.gov.uk
