Significant discoveries from the Roman era have been made during an archaeological dig in Spalding.
The 2005 excavations in Wygate Park, on land being developed by Allison Homes, turned up Roman artefacts including pottery, a leather shoe and materials used to extract salt from seawater.

The site also shows evidence of metal working.

Project manager Mike Wood, of Heckington-based firm Archaeological Planning Services, is giving a talk next week on the findings, which he says "puts Spalding on the map" as far as this period is concerned.

He added: "Most people thought it was under the water. This is the first site in the Fenland area to have been excavated on this scale to have a saltern and a settlement."

The site is believed to have spanned from the late Iron Age through to the late third/early fourth century AD – the early Roman period.

Mr Wood added: "What makes it interesting is it maps how people manipulated the environment and how they adapted to a changing Fenland environment.

"For periods it would be very wet and difficult to use and at other times it would be dry and
suitable for settlement.

"The main component was a salt making site from the late Iron Age. This was a very common practice in the Fenland as salt was a valuable commodity."

Mr Wood said the site shows there was a pastoral society with animals and husbandry, typical round house dwellings which carried on through the second and third centuries.

He added: "Towards the end of the settlement's life water levels started to rise again and the landscape became untenable when it was abandoned in the fourth century and it went underwater again until medieval times.

Items found at the site have been taken away for examination now the dig is finished and a journal detailing the findings is due to be published next year.