Prehistoric monuments, Anglo Saxon burial ground discovered at site of new army camp

Prehistoric monuments up to 5,000 years old, Anglo-Saxon graves, and military features from World War I and World War II have been found on a military-owned site in Wiltshire, the defense ministry announced here Friday.

The discoveries were made during pre-development works on defense ministry land earmarked for 227 new army family homes.

The archaeological features were discovered by a specialist team from Wessex Archaeology, working on behalf of the defense ministry's Defense Infrastructure Organisation (DIO).

Further investigations revealed an Anglo-Saxon cemetery of about 150 graves. Artifacts found in the graves included spears, knives, jewellery, bone combs and other personal items. One of the burials has been radiocarbon dated to between 660 AD and 780 AD which falls in the mid-Anglo-Saxon period in Britain.

Andy Corcoran from the DIO said: "The discovery of this important Saxon cemetery was completely unexpected."

Si Cleggett of Wessex Archaeology said: "The size, location and date of this cemetery makes it of considerable research importance. It contained the graves of women, men, and children and was clearly the burial ground for a local community, perhaps the earliest families in the area."

The housing development is part of wider plans to accommodate the 4,000 additional army personnel and their families who will be based around Salisbury Plain by 2019.

The defense ministry is planning to invest more than 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in the area to provide about 1,000 new homes for military families and 2,500 new bed spaces for single soldiers.

Clare King, assistant county archaeologist at Wiltshire Council, said of the find: "The remains date from the prehistoric to the modern periods and add new chapters to the story of Bulford...A further phase of excavation is planned to examine the two prehistoric monuments beside which the Saxon cemetery was established. These appear to consist of Early Bronze Age round barrows that may have earlier, Neolithic origins."

Neolithic pits outside the monuments contained decorated Grooved Ware pottery, stone and flint axes, a finely made disc-shaped flint knife, a chalk bowl, and the bones of red deer, roe deer and aurochs (extinct wild cattle).

During World War I, the site was used for training and there is evidence that a field farrier may have re-shoed horses at the site before they were sent off to war. Endit