Cherry Hinton Pit is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 situated to the south of Cherry Hinton

Cherry Hinton

Cherry Hinton is a suburban area of the city of Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire, England. It is around southeast of Cambridge city centre.-History:...

 in the county of Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...

.

It is managed as a nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough

Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Peterborough is a wildlife trust covering the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and the City of Peterborough in England....

. The Trust's sites are known as Limekiln Close, West Pit and East Pit. In 2009, East Pit was opened to the public. Archaeologists

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 have discovered human bones, Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 and Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

pottery fragments, and the remains of an Iron Age ditch on the site.