Six sets of human remains clustered close together have been unearthed. One having been buried with a knife at the hip, one with a twisted copper alloy bracelet, and another having had their skull placed between their legs after death.
Experts are still analysing the find but it's believed they could be Roman or Anglo-Saxon. If there was already evidence of Romans in the area where Forest Green Rovers is to have its new stadium, but Romans rarely buried knives with bodies, according to Gloucestershire Live.
Roman coins, pottery and jewellery uncovered by the time team from Cotswold Archaeology do date the discovery next to Junction 13 of the M5 though. That, says Cotswold Archaeology osteoarchaeologist Sharon Clough, makes for an "exciting" site.
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"We've excavated 10 burials and we think these date to the Roman period or post-Roman period. The coins, in particular, are very useful because they have different emperors on, which will give you quite a specific date," she said.
On site, with the exception of the six, the human burials were mostly dispersed. Cotswold Archaeology says that despite the extensive Roman activity on the site, the knife present in one grave could suggest skeletons were of those who lived and died during the Anglo-Saxon period.
It's a theory reinforced by a possible stone structure nearby that also relates to the Anglo-Saxon period – and recycling a few fragments of roof tile, probably from a villa on the site. Dale Vince, chairman of Forest Green Rovers, said he was surprised at the extent of what had been found.
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"We knew there was a Roman villa there so I thought we'd find some coins but not much beyond that. "I find it really interesting and these finds seem to span a couple of centuries so there were people living there for a very long time," he added.
The number of skeletons found within such close proximity is taken as indication that they may have made up the family living at the villa. "We can look at what people are buried with to give an indication of their status, if they were wealthy and different burial practices. By the time we finish, we hope we'll have a really great story about the people living and working in the area in Roman times," said Ms Clough.
Cotswold Archaeology has been working at the site for the past four weeks and the team will stay on site for a few weeks more. Once the work is done, the items are expected to go to a local museum. The work is being carried out ahead of the construction of an all-wooden 5,000-seat stadium for Forest Green Rovers, training pitches and a business park.
A statement on the Cotswold Archaeology website stripping of the site is ongoing with identifications so far including ditches associated with historic field boundaries and enclosures, pits, postholes, a possible stone structure, and those human burials.
"We’ve also uncovered gravel extraction pits of various shape and size, numerous furrows associated with at least two phases of medieval ridge and furrow cultivation," the statement said.
Evidence of more recent history uncovered at the site includes a stretch of the Stroudwater Navigation – a canal opened in 1779 and backfilled in the late 1960s/early 1970s during construction of the adjacent motorway.
For more information and pictures of the discoveries - click here.
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