VIDEO: Ancient skeletons discovered at site of new housing development in Burton Latimer

Two ancient skeletons have been discovered by workers getting ready to lay a new water main in Burton Latimer.
Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.
Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.

The finds - believed to be Roman - have been carefully excavated, recorded and removed by archaeologists on behalf of Anglian Water.

The water company was carrying out archaeological surveys before laying a new water pipe to supply Taylor Wimpey’s Wheatfields housing development, just off the A6.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The surveys are a standard part of the water company’s site preparation work.

Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.
Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.

Only the bottom half of each skeleton remains, but they show the pair were buried with their feet pointing towards what is believed to be a temple.

Nearby there is a natural spring and even a ditch, which is likely to have channelled the spring water to a settlement.

Emma Staples from Anglian Water said: “We use the latest technology to make sure getting access to clean, high quality drinking water is as easy as turning on the tap.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“That ready supply means water is sometimes taken for granted, but as well as being exciting discoveries, these ancient finds – so near a natural spring – remind us of just how important water was to ancient communities and still is to us today.

Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.
Two ancient skeletons have been found by surveyors at a new housing development.

“Access to clean water is essential to life and prosperity and has been pivotal in forming communities for as long as humans have roamed the earth.

“That’s still true today and is why our Love Every Drop campaign aims to put water at the heart of a new way of living.”

The skeletons will be analysed by specialists to allow an archaeological report to be completed.