#FindsFriday Pit at Hyderabad Barracks

Hello and happy #FindsFriday to all of you! A couple of weeks ago we spoke about the coin hoard found during our works at the former Hyderabad barracks but did you know that where the coins were found is just as interesting?

The hoard was found in a pit which had been dug into the side of a large ditch. The ditch was 9.0-9.4m wide and 2.45-2.6m deep, and was identified as a previously unknown section of the Berechurch Dyke.

Dating from the Late Iron Age to early Roman period, a dyke was a long deep ditch with a high bank behind it, providing a formidable defensive barrier. A series of dykes surrounded the pre-Roman oppidum(town) of Camulodunum (Colchester), and this discovery revealed that the Berechurch Dyke continued north for another 1km.

The name Camulodunum means stronghold or fortified place of Camulos, the Celtic god of war, and we are still discovering the scale of its defences.

For more information check out CAT Report 628 at: http://cat.essex.ac.uk/all-reports.html

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