A TRANQUIL and peaceful Huntingdonshire village became the scene of a mass excavation last week when the archaeologists from Channel 4 s Time Team paid a visit. Tony Robinson and more than 50 of his Time Team colleagues, including three camera crews, visi

A TRANQUIL and peaceful Huntingdonshire village became the scene of a mass excavation last week when the archaeologists from Channel 4's Time Team paid a visit.

Tony Robinson and more than 50 of his Time Team colleagues, including three camera crews, visited Warboys for a three-day dig, which started on March 17.

The excavations took place in a field just off the A141 on a small mound known as Chapel Head.

Unsurprisingly, the team uncovered the foundations of two small chapels, one dating back to the 13th century and another to the 16th century.

However, there was some surprise when they discovered evidence of an even earlier chapel located under the 13th century foundations.

They also found evidence of people occupying the site from 6,000BC to 1600, found Bronze Age artefacts, Iron Age pottery, Roman tiles and Saxon artefacts.

The dig took place on two acres of farm land belonging to a Warboys farmer Mark England.

Time Team series editor Michael Douglas said: "[Chapel Head] would have been located on the edge of the Fens.

"Before it was drained it would have been an island, about 200 or 300 years ago. We found evidence that people have been using this site for about 8,000 years."

He added: "We found some really exciting finds and I think we were all surprised by the sheer volume of activity we found on the site.

"We were finding a constant flow of artefacts and even discovered a Roman or Iron Age perimeter wall, which could date back almost 2,000 years ago."

INFORMATION: The Time Team's dig in Warboys will be shown next year when a new series begins on the first Sunday of 2009.