Who are we?

The ‘Fen Edge Archaeology Group’ is a group of mostly amateur archaeologists whose aim is to promote further understanding of the archaeology of the Fen Edge area covering the parishes of Willingham, Rampton, Cottenham, Landbeach and Waterbeach.  The group was formed in 2008. 

Honorary President of FEAG

In April 2019 Richard Mortimer became FEAG's Honorary President. He is a Director at the consultancy company CgMs Heritage. Prior to holding that position Richard had over 30 years' other experience in professional archaeology, most recently as a Senior Project Manager at Oxford Archaeology.

Former Honorary Presidents

In 2010 Carenza Lewis MA, ScD, FSA became the first Honorary President of FEAG. Carenza is Professor for the Public Understanding of Research in the College of Arts University  of Lincoln. More information about Carenza in archaeology can be found here
Between 2013 and 2019 Dr Susan Oosthuizen FSA was the second Honorary President of FEAG. Susan is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology in the University of Cambridge. More information about her and her work can be found here: https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/directory/smo23.

What do we do?

The group has undertaken a number of archaeological events to expand our knowledge of the villages in the area.  These include:

• A multi-season excavation of a rural Romano-British site to the north of Cottenham
• Undertaking geophysical surveys
• Field walking which involves gridding out a field and systematically collecting and recording the surface finds from the plough soil.  This technique is used to locate or map the distribution and extent of archaeological sites.
• The digging of test pits. These are 1m square pits dug at different sites in a village.  Collecting and recording finds at the different sites can give a historical picture of the areas of habitation at different time points and changes in population and land use.
• Village walks.
• Talks on the many different techniques used in archaeology and their applications.

To find out more about upcoming activities visit the ‘events’ section.  The results of our ongoing and previous activities can be found under the ‘projects’ section.  If you are interested in finding out more or joining our group, then please contact us.

Cambridge Antiquarian Society Affiliation

Our affiliation gives the members of FEAG the right to attend meetings of the CAS and also the right to the reduced fee for attending the CAS Spring Conference. Members of FEAG may also, on production of the CAS membership card, use the Haddon Library, the University’s archaeology library. FEAG as an organisation will receive copies of the refereed journal, the Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society (PCAS).
Please contact FEAG’s secretary if you wish to use the library facilities or borrow the journal.

Jigsaw Cambridgeshire

Jigsaw was a Lottery funded initiative of Cambridgeshire County Council and Oxford Archaeology East to support and promote amateur and community archaeology in the county. FEAG supported the initiative from the making of the bid for funds and is now an affiliated organisation to its successor, managed by Oxford Archaeology East. This affiliation entitles FEAG to borrow equipment and to liaise with other amateur groups. Further information can be found at http://www.jigsawcambs.org/.
Our affiliation also means that we are represented on the Jigsaw Advisory Group. The latest Minutes of the meetings of the Group can be seen at http://www.jigsawcambs.org/blog/160-advisory-group-minutes. ‘

Access Cambridge Archaeology

From 2010 FEAG supported Access Cambridge Archaeology in its work running the Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) and then its Independent Learning Archaeology Field School (ILAF) in finding locations for school students to excavate test pits in Fen Edge Community Association villages. Those events were developed by the Access Cambridge Archaeology team in the McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research of the University of Cambridge and then the Cambridge Archaeological Unit. They provided a very valuable experience of undertaking a higher education level experience requiring the undertaking of a new activity, working in teams and completing the tasks in time and according to strict guidelines. The results feed into research work conducted in the Institute. Results of the excavations, including those in Cottenham, Willingham and Rampton can be seen at: http://www.access.arch.cam.ac.uk/reports/cambridgeshire .’