Village rewriting understanding of first Britons
BBCA Herefordshire village has rewritten archaeologists' understanding of how people first came together in the British Isles.
The community dig in Dorstone, known as the Dorstone Settlement Timeline, has received £250,000 in funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and has already uncovered prehistoric artefacts.
The community has also been invited to get involved with a total of nine dig sites in action, some located in the gardens of local residents.
Tim Hoverd, the archaeological projects manager for Herefordshire Council, said: "It's quite surprising, considering it's quite a large village but we know virtually nothing about anything to do with the medieval and later period."
Dorstone's St Faith's Church has become the base for the dig, with information charting back through history - including an interactive database - of how the village has changed over the years.
Hoverd added: "What we're after is a snapshot through time in various locations around the village. So build a narrative as to what was happening at each cottage, site or each field, and to then try to stitch them all together.
"We can then find out what the village may have looked like and the type of people who may have been living here at various points through history."
The archaeological projects manager also revealed the archaeologists and the community diggers had "found a huge mixture of stuff".
"The vast majority of it is Victorian and Georgian, but underneath that we've got 17th and 18 century material," he said.
"We've also got 16th century material, and we've even got pieces of flint which are probably prehistoric."
Dominic Harbour, the project co-ordinator, said: "Dorstone is a small village with a very, very big history.
"We've got 6,000 years of habitation here and the origins of this settlement are rewriting our understanding of how people first came together in the British Isles and here in the Golden Valley, and started to develop the communities we see in the parish today."
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