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In September 2006 a third phase of archaeological evaluation was carried out at the former government offices site on Brooklands Avenue in advance of residential development. Eleven trenches were opened up equivalent to 558 sq m of archaeological sampling (5% of the area not previously evaluated in 2004), but no significant datable archaeological features were found. Several post-medieval drainage ditches, a small area of probable post-medieval quarrying, some nineteenth century planting pits, plus evidence of Victorian or more modern cultivation in the form of plough furrows were identified, the latter just inside the boundary of the former Brookland Farm. A handful of earlier features included a sub- circular pit and a group of rather truncated features of irregular appearance, the latter including several crescentic pits or ditches, some of which could have been tree throws. All of these proved to be sterile apart from small amounts of burnt flint and some limited environmental evidence. A wide variety of mollusc species were recorded from some of the ditches, and in particular from a stream or pond silt at the south-east end of the site. This attests to the underlying damp conditions of the area which still persists today. The high water table perhaps explains the near complete absence of settlement and archaeological activity here prior to drainage and land reclamation in the nineteenth century.

A small archaeological evaluation was carried out within the garden of a private house at 19 Mere Way, Cambridge in order to check for the presence of a Roman road (Akeman Street) shown on Ordnance Survey maps as crossing the property. No evidence for the road was found, instead the visible ridge of the supposed �agger� appears likely to be a linear Early Medieval headland linked to the cultivation of strips abutting a trackway, most probably a later medieval re-use of the Roman road which may lie just a few metres to the west. A tiny amount of re-deposited Roman pottery was found within the considerable thickness of headland soils. No other dateable artefacts were recovered.

An archaeological watching brief carried out on flood defence improvement works at 'The Moorings' just to the west of Houghton Mill identified two phases of former flood bank construction using imported clay and brick waste and dating to around the middle to late nineteenth century. At the eastern end of the route for the new flood bank a slot trench sunk for the insertion of a clay membrane cut through a layer organic river silts and alluvium containing an archaeological horizon consisting of dumped burnt hearth material, burnt grain, bone and some Early Medieval (13th-14th century AD) pottery.

This archaeological desk top assessment was requested on behalf of NKP Holdings Ltd to assess the likely impact of development of an approximately 990m2 site, centred on TL 375 406, immediately adjacent to the parish church of St John the Baptist and Priory Memorial Gardens, Royston. Evaluation of the archival, aerial and cartographic evidence shows the site to be located in an area with known historical and archaeological significance, with a high probability of archaeological features remaining in-situ on site.

This archaeological desk top assessment was requested on behalf of NKP Holdings Ltd to assess the likely impact of development of an approximately 457.7m2 site, The Old Cattle Market, centred on TL 375 405, immediately adjacent to the former Corn Exchange, Royston. Evaluation of the archival, aerial and cartographic evidence shows the site to be located in an area with known historical and archaeological significance, with a high probability of archaeological features remaining in-situ on site.

An archaeological trench evaluation carried out at this riverside site south-west of the
new ARES Research Centre and to the north-east of Babraham Hall revealed
evidence for Neolithic and Neolithic/Early Bronze Age (possibly Beaker period)
flintworking associated with the re-deposited remains of possible burnt flint mounds
located along the edge of a former palaeo-channel of the River Granta. Exploitation
of this flint resource continued into the later Bronze Age.
Roman occupation of this part of the floodplain, close to a likely fording point of the
river, is evident from a series of NW-SE curvilinear ditches, and slightly further away
against the edge of the gravel terrace, an E-W and a SW-NE oriented ditch, the latter
a much more typical alignment of the Babraham Roman settlement. Adjacent to this
were found daub-filled beam-slot(s) associated with a possible wooden building.
Pottery dates linked to the silting-up of ditches and to the gradual submersion of a
raised gravel causeway that once ran parallel to the river and across the floodplain,
suggests that this area was abandoned, perhaps due to seasonal or more permanent
flooding, sometime during the 2nd century AD. However, there is at least some
suggestion of an attempt at river management through the re-cutting or deepening of
one of the major palaeo-channels, perhaps commenced during the Roman period, but
then repeated some time during the medieval, and again in the post-medieval period
prior to the canalisation of the river.
A group of SW-NE post-medieval banks and ditches were encountered which may to
relate to an inner estate boundary shown on historic maps of the land of Babraham
Hall.

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken between July 2005 and October 2006 in and around Hostel Yard of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, (TL 4482 5286) on behalf of the College. The watching brief revealed a range of Saxo-Norman to Victorian features relating to properties fronting onto Trumpington Street and Bene�t Street. A number of Medieval inhumations were found in Benet�s passage next to the churchyard.

Thirty foundation pits were excavated ahead of the construction of a new building on the Darlow Depot site in Fengate, Peterborough. Five evaluation trenches were also excavated on the eastern side of the site, on land not previously evaluated. Twelve of the foundation pits contained archaeology, two exposing the ditch and associated post-holes of the Neolithic/Bronze Age barrow previously and partly investigated on the site. The remaining pits contained ditches already known or suggested by the crop mark survey, and small pits, some of which may have had a natural origin. The evaluation trenches contained numerous pits and ditches, some of which were undoubtedly continuations of known crop marks. Some Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement activity was encountered, including the edge of a circular post-hole building.

Following an archaeological evaluation on the proposed site of the ARES Project building by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) in July and August 2005, an archaeological excavation was carried out by the CAU within the development footprints of the new building and car park areas on land at the Babraham Institute, Babraham Hall (TL 5095 5080) between October and December 2005. The excavation was commissioned by Catherine Wells of ARUP Project Management on behalf of the clients, the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Between October and November 2006, a team from the Cambridge Archaeological Unit conducted a field evaluation by trial trenching, commissioned by Trumpington Meadows Land Company Ltd. The investigations were conducted over on an area of Trumpington Meadows within land formally associated with the Plant Breeding Institute and subsequently Monsanto.

Between Agust and September 2006 a Roman cemetery found during the course of an archaeological evaluation at the Babraham Institute was partially excavated (>40% of it). This revealed a narrow NW-SE strip parallel to the putative Roman Road with 36 late 2nd to early 4th century AD graves containing upwards of 42 individuals (the latter equally divided between male and female) with evidence for the presence of family groups and at least ten infants and juveniles. Four or five of the skeletons showed evidence for post-mortem decapitation, whilst the average age of death was probably around 40. Accompanying grave goods (pottery beakers, jars, hob-nailed footwear (male) and bracelets, rings and necklaces (female) would seem to suggest that this was a moderately wealthy population, but without evidence for any rich burials. The cemetery appears to have been sited on a earlier circular cremation cemetery, possibly a Roman cremation barrow, containing up to seven cremations ranging from the late 1st to early 3rd century AD.

This report provides a detailed account of the fieldwork undertaken by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) between August and October 2006 in fields adjacent to, and between, the villages of Oakington and Longstanton, with over 5km of trenching being dug. This work continued the huge evaluation projects undertaken in 2004 and 2005 along the infrastructure routes and on and around the former airfield (Evans & Mackay 2004; Evans et al. 2004, 2006). Since the conclusion of the previous episode of fieldwork, the airfield has been comprehensively geophysically surveyed by Oxford Archaeotechnics, providing a rare opportunity to work with such detailed data on such a large scale. This work enabled trenches to be placed with great accuracy over known or suspected sites, as well as testing the extent of sites and features. In addition to the airfield, Fields 14, 21, 32 and 33 were also evaluated. Work on these fields essentially filled in the gaps from previous work, effectively completing the circuit of fields evaluated along the A14 and from that corridor north to both of the villages. Finally, watching brief monitoring of geo-assessment test-pits within the former airfield�s service buildings and barrack blocks is also reported.