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Artefacts, including settlements, Roman coins and pottery dating back 3,000 years, have been discovered near a reservoir, as per a BBC report.
They have been unearthed by archaeologists digging ahead of the construction of a 19.5km (12-mile) water pipeline close to Abberton Reservoir, near Colchester. “It’s always fascinating to learn about the history we uncover,” said Daniel Wilson of Essex and Suffolk Water.
Coin on Roman emperor
One of the coins discovered is believed to depict the Roman Emperor Valentinian I, who ruled from 364 to 375 AD. The team from Oxford Archaeology has also found evidence of farmsteads and settlements, including large rectangular enclosures evidenced by clear crop marks.
The remains of several structures were unearthed, along with large deposits of oyster shell and industrial residue. The finds are all logged, photographed and evidenced, before construction of the pipeline is allowed to continue.
“Archaeology is the record of what’s happened over time,” said Tim Haines, senior archaeologist from engineering and design consultancy firm Stantec. “The very putting of a pipeline here will become archaeology by its very nature.”
Haines said the discoveries “are a lot more interesting to me than things like Stonehenge – this is how people are actually using their landscape over time”.
He said they showed Essex had “a continually changing landscape”. The unearthed pottery, which can be linked to regions in France, meant Essex was likely to have been involved in international trade.
“We forget how much trade there was across the North Sea,” said Haines.
“On the Essex coast, you’ve got all of these little estuaries so people would be trading from the continent up and down them – it’s a very dynamic, very international landscape.”
Archaeologists started researching the history of the pipeline’s route more than two years ago, but digging only started in early 2024. The archaeological work has taken place in collaboration with Essex County Council and Colch.
