Partial remains of woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos have been uncovered during Highways England's excavations near Fenstanton.

The experts, alongside archaeologists from MOLA Headland Infrastructure, found the remains while searching for construction materials in an old ancient river.

Highways England Cultural Heritage Team Leader for the A14, Dr Steve Sherlock said: "These discoveries are just the latest in a line of amazing finds that the team has unearthed since this work begun at the end of 2016. All of these finds are testament to the rich history of the region, and in particular this local area around the A14 in Cambridgeshire.

"It's crucial that we record this evidence for the past so that it can be seen and understood by future generations. Seeing the remains of these extinct animals really brings to life what was happening over a hundred thousand years ago.

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"We've been working hard in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council and our archaeological team to unearth the historical secrets of this area and understand some of the incredible things that have happened in the county. Although our excavations as part of this work will soon be finished, Highways England will continue to respect our country's environmental and cultural heritage across all of our improvement schemes, and we'll be ensuring that the finds from our work on the A14 are well preserved and accessible to residents."

Dr Bill Boismier, consultant Palaeolithic archaeologist for MOLA Headland, commented: "The bones together with other environmental evidence surviving from the Ice Age such as plant remains, insects, and microscopic pollen grains from plants should help us to create a picture of the floodplain environment at the time when these remains were deposited."

Kasia Gdaniec, Senior Archaeologist at Cambridgeshire County Council, added: "Quarries afford unique opportunities to understand deep time periods of land formation and transformation and enable us to understand how humans and animals adapted to the changing climatic and environmental conditions. Gravel quarries, such as the one at Fenstanton, provide valuable evidence of ice ages and warm periods, or interstadials, and require specialist investigation to interpret the evolution of the landscapes represented by the mineral and sedimentary series within them.

"This is hugely important to our understanding of some of the most distant times in the human past and Cambridgeshire County Council extend their gratitude to the A14Team and Highways England for continuing their support of the nationally significant archaeology programme."

(CM)