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The 'Town Life'

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The 'Town Life' Department of Archaeology Silchester Insula IX The ‘Town Life’ Project 2011 Michael Fulford, Amanda Clarke & Sarah Lucas Our fifteenth season of excavation The late Iron Age on Insula IX in July and August 2011 saw excellent progress in uncovering c. 40 BC – AD 44 Until the ‘Town Life’ Project, the earliest evidence evidence for the occupation of Calleva for the occupation of the Calleva promontory came in the late Iron Age and earliest from the 1980s excavations beneath the forum Roman period up to the episode of basilica in the heart of the town. This produced no finds to suggest occupation before 20/10BC. destruction which we are associating However, historical evidence provides the context with the period of the Boudican for an earlier date for the origin of Calleva. The British Atrebates are assumed to have originated revolt of AD 60/1. The Iron Age from a Gallic Atrebates settled in northern France. evidence is gradually being revealed, Their leader at the time of the wars between Rome as we work across from the west to and Gaul in the 50s BC was Commius. the east in the north and south of the trench. Significant structures and extensive deposits of earliest Roman occupation continue to be excavated above the Iron Age occupation across the eastern half of the trench. Commius coin distribution in relation to Calleva 1 Once an ally of Rome, he fell out with Julius Caesar and fled to Britain with his retinue in about 52 BC. The archaeological evidence for his presence in Britain is represented by coins carrying his name which have been found in small numbers in central southern England. These do not contradict the possi- bility that Commius was at Calleva, but to date there has been no firm evidence for settlement as early as 50 BC. However, three important developments emerged during the course of the 2011 season: Chronology The late Iron Age ditch which we began to excavate in 2010 has been explored further. It extends north- west from the southern edge of the trench for 40m before its course is obscured in a complexity of occu- pation. It is V-shaped in profile with a depth of about 1.0 metres and there is an ‘ankle-breaker’ cut at the bottom. While there remain uncertainties about how the ditch behaves at its northern end, it is now clear that it is the earliest significant feature of the Iron Age occupation. What its purpose was, whether it represented an early division of land across the Calleva promontory, or it formed part of a defensive enclosure, is unclear, but it was a major feature of the landscape. Finds are sparsely represented in its lower fills, but the upper deposits are rich in the pottery and other finds which are consistent with the earliest finds from the excavation beneath the forum basilica in the 1980s. These could not be dated earlier than about 20/10 BC. Since the ditch in Insula IX had largely silted up before rubbish was deposited in it, the date of its creation is sometime earlier than about 20-10 BC. How much earlier is difficult to esti- mate, but some 10-20 years, at least, seems plausible. By extrapolation this takes the date of its initial excavation back to about 40 BC. Developments after the silting of the ditch have to be considered from the south-west and north-west quadrants of the excavation separately. While the trend of development in both areas is the same with each sharing the same broad chronology, we cannot yet impose a single, site-wide chronology until we have excavated more and linked the two areas. Cover image: Kite photo by Geraint Jones. Left: Looking north-west across the excavation towards the end of the season. Right: Photo highlighting the Iron Age ditch (looking south-east). 2 South-west By the turn of the 1st century BC/1st century AD the N ditch seems to have lost its importance or to have been forgotten. A large timber building with late Augustan pottery was constructed across its course and at right angles to it at the southern end of the trench. Its western end is adjacent to, and at right angles to a linear slot oriented north-west/south-east and extending some 23.5 metres across the trench. There are traces of a parallel structure to the west and the pair appears to define a street or lane, some 3.5 metres in width, of the late Iron Age town. We interpret these slots as the construction trenches for fences which were in due course replaced by more robust structures employing substantial posts, but maintaining a similar width of 3.5 metres for the street. The rear wall of the building is hard against, if not actually part of the eastern row of posts. Gravel surface Beam slot or fenceline Post hole 0 20 metres Well Beam slot Post hole Pit with charcoal-rich fill Pit Ditch or gully Clay floor Emerging clay floor Cesspit Gravel surface 0 20 metres Aerial photo showing NW-SE Street and Iron Age building, looking north-west. 3 In addition to the major building the area to the east of the street contains a number of rubbish pits filled with pottery and other finds of Augusto-Tiberian date. While some to the north respect the line of the construction trench, others clearly lie within the pre- sumed footprint of the building. However, the latter group also appears to respect the (shallower) con- struction trench of a possible second timber building constructed on a slightly different alignment. While more work needs to be done on the relationships between the two buildings and with the rubbish pits, and on their chronology, the 2011 season revealed evidence of a further post-built structure which ran, more or less at right angles, across the line of the more prominent of the two buildings. Further excava- tion will clarify whether this is part of a building or a post line. Thus, in the south-west quadrant, in addi- tion to the complexities associated with at least two distinct phases of development of the street, there is a sequence of three timber structures, of which two at least appear to be the remains of buildings. Further work on the finds from the rubbish pits may help to refine the chronological sequence, but it is clear that the vast majority of the features excavated in the south-west area in 2010 and 2011 are pre-AD 43 in date. North-west The complexities of the development of the site in the late Iron Age are further borne out by discoveries in the north-west quadrant of the trench where excava- tion beneath the north-east/south-west-oriented street or lane has revealed evidence of another, substantial rectangular timber building, as well as other struc- tures. Although we do not yet have dating evidence for this structure, its presence indicates that the setting out of the north-east/south-west lane was secondary to a phase of occupation and, very prob- ably, secondary to the north-west/south-east street, where we have not yet found evidence of any underly- ing buildings. This is supported by the discovery in 2010 of a cluster of pits containing Augusto-Tiberian pottery right at the point where street and lane are projected to intersect. The 2011 season also revealed a spur, defined by shallow, parallel ditches, 3.5 metres apart, of the north-east/south-west lane. It ran off at right angles towards the centre of the excavated area. Whether it is contemporary with or secondary to the creation of the north-east/south-west lane is yet to be established. Thus in the north-west we have evidence of an Iron Age building, possibly associated with the cluster of early rubbish pits, before the lane and its associated spur, which strikes towards the Photo showing NW lane, looking north-east. 4 1 north-east, was laid out. While evidence is emerging of at least two phases of ditches defining this lane, Claudio-Neronian (c. AD 40-60) pottery has been identified in some of the later ditch fills which flank the north-east trending lane. The overall pattern is of increasing density of occupation reflected in the subdivision into smaller properties by the creation of new lanes and boundaries. The makings of a sequence While the course of the north-west/south-east street runs slightly obliquely to that of the earlier ditch it seems to have continued as a key structure of the late Iron Age settlement, respected by the earliest build- ings and associated rubbish pits of Augusto-Tiberian Well Beam slot Post hole Pit with charcoal-rich fill Pit Ditch or gully Clay floor Emerging clay floor date in both the north-west and south-west areas. The Cesspit Gravel surface 0 202 creation of the second lane running to the north-east metres and its associated spur indicate an intensification of occupation within the excavated area in the second quarter of the 1st century AD. 1. c. 40-20 BC: ‘Early’ defensive or boundary ditch 2. c. 20-10 BC: Establishment of north-west/south-east street 3. c. 20 BC – AD 20: Rectangular buildings and associ- ated rubbish pits in the south-west and north-west 4. c. AD 20-44: North-east trending lane established at right angles to ‘axial’ north-west/south-east street N 4 Gravel surface Beam slot or fenceline Post hole 0 20 metres 3 Well Beam slot Post hole Pit with charcoal-rich fill Pit Ditch or gully Clay floor Emerging clay floor Cesspit Gravel surface 0 20 metres Pit Beam-slot/fenceline Gravel surface Post hole Ditch/gully 0 20 metres Pit with charcoal-rich fill Well Beam slot Post hole Pit with charcoal-rich fill Emerging clay floor Pit Previous phase Clay floor Emerging clay floor 5 Cesspit Gravel surface 0 20 metres for buildings is that much work remains to be done Earliest Roman in excavating the remains of the succeeding, civilian phase of the town, our Period 1.
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