THE mystery of Colchester’s missing amphitheatre has still not been solved, despite archaeologists beginning their search of a new area.

Work to excavate land in the grounds of St John’s Abbey began last month, but the team is yet to find any evidence of a Roman amphitheatre.

Colchester has the remains of Britain’s only Roman Circus, a temple and two theatres, which means, in theory, there should be an amphitheatre.

It has never been found, but Colchester Archaeological Trust hoped it might be just inside the precinct walls of the abbey grounds, as there is a mound there.

The trust’s director Philip Crummy said; “Amphitheatres are always set in the ground.

The soil is built up around the edges to form a seating area.”

However, so far the latest dig, which is in the overgrown and wooded area, owned by Taylor Wimpey, has not revealed it.

Mr Crummy added: “We still don’t know what the bank is and we probably won’t know unless we dig into it.”

However, they have found two graves, one of which was an adult with a spine deformity.

Mr Crummy added: “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We were all joking that it was Richard III.”

A team of about 15 people is working at the site two days a week. They have not given up hope yet, as there is a large part of the site still to search with the project running until October.