Mud Hole Roman Villa, Boxford, West Berkshire The Results of the 2019 Excavation for The Boxford History Project CA Project: AN0091 CA Report: AN0091-01 October 2020 @Cotswold Archaeology Mud Hole Roman Villa, Boxford, West Berkshire: 2019 Community Excavation MUD HOLE ROMAN VILLA, BOXFORD, WEST BERKSHIRE The Results of the 2019 Excavation CA Project: AN0091 CA Report: AN0091-01 Document Control Grid Revision Date Author Checked by Status Reasons for Approved revision by A 23-02-20 Matt Nichol Internal review B 24-02-20 Richard Massey C 06-04-20 Karen kew Internal QA Walker Review D 23-10-20 Andrew DC Revised Content error Mudd external E 3-11-20 Andrew DC Revised Content error Mudd external This report is confidential to the client. Cotswold Archaeology accepts no responsibility or liability to any third party to whom this report, or any part of it, is made known. Any such party relies upon this report entirely at their own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced by any means without permission. © Cotswold Archaeology @Cotswold Archaeology Mud Hole Roman Villa, Boxford, West Berkshire; The 2019 Excavation CONTENTS SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 1 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 2 2. ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................. 6 3. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES .................................................................................... 12 4. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 13 5. RESULTS OF EXCAVATION (FIGS 3–24) ......................................................... 16 Period 1: (Late Roman) AD 300-420 ................................................................... 17 Period 2: (Late Roman) AD 300-420 ................................................................... 24 Period 3: (Post-Roman) AD 420-500 ................................................................... 33 6. THE FINDS .......................................................................................................... 35 7. BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL .................................................................................... 39 8. THE MOSAIC ....................................................................................................... 41 9. DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................... 72 10. STORAGE AND CURATION ............................................................................... 75 11. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... 75 12. REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 77 APPENDIX A: CONTEXT DESCRIPTIONS ........................................................ 86 APPENDIX B: POTTERY .................................................................................... 93 APPENDIX C: GLASS ......................................................................................... 100 APPENDIX D: METAL ITEMS ............................................................................. 102 APPENDIX E: THE COINS .................................................................................. 107 APPENDIX F: CERAMIC BUILDING MATERIAL ................................................ 110 APPENDIX G: WORKED STONE ....................................................................... 112 APPENDIX H: WALL PLASTER AND MORTAR ................................................ 115 APPENDIX I: THE ANIMAL BONE ...................................................................... 118 APPENDIX J: PLANT MACROFOSSILS ............................................................. 124 APPENDIX K: MOLLUSCS .................................................................................. 127 APPENDIX L: WOOD CHARCOAL ..................................................................... 129 APPENDIX M: OASIS REPORT FORM .............................................................. 132 i @Cotswold Archaeology Mud Hole Roman Villa, Boxford, West Berkshire; The 2019 Excavation LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 Site location plan Figure 2 Aerial photograph of open day at the Mud Hole villa, August, 2019 Figure 3 Trench plan, showing archaeological features from 2017 excavation; Trenches 1, 2 and 3 Figure 4 Vertical drone photograph, showing archaeological features from 2017 excavation; Trenches 1, 2 and 3 Figure 5 Section and photograph, Trench 3, 2017 excavation season Figure 6 Trench plan showing archaeological features from 2017 and 2019 excavations; Trench 1 (2017) and Trenches 1 and 2 (2019) Figure 7 Trenches 1 and 2: Vertical drone photograph, showing archaeological features from 2019 excavation Figure 8 Trenches 1 and 2: plan, showing archaeological features from 2019 excavation and three phases of building construction Figure 9 Photograph: Trench 1, looking north-west (1m scales) Figure 10 Trench 1: section and photograph; walls (1008 and 1011), and chalk foundation (1023) Figure 11 Trench 1: section and photograph; foundation trench cut (1029), wall (1011) and land drain (1031) Figure 12 Photograph: Trench 2, looking north-east (1m scale) Figure 13 Trench 2: section and photograph; foundation trench cut (2052) and wall (2029) Figure 14 Trench 1: section and photograph: wall (1004) and gully (1033) Figure 15 Trench 2: section and photograph; wall (2029) and associated external deposits Figure 16 Trench 2: section and photograph; wall (2016) Figure 17 Trench 2: section and photograph; wall (2048), buttress (2017), gully (2043) and land drain (2045), looking north-west (1m scale) Figure 18 Trench 2: section and photograph; foundation trench cut (2037), wall (2048) and land drain (2010), looking west (1m scale) Figure 19 Trench 2: Photograph: buttresses 2017 and 2047, looking west (scale 0.4m) Figure 20 Trench 2: Photograph: wall (2016), doorway and mosaic (2040), looking south- west (1m scale) Figure 21 Trench 2: Photograph: the mosaic (2040) Figure 22 Trench 2: Photograph: in situ wall plaster 2054 (RA 4530 at base of wall (2016) (1m scale) Figure 23 Trench 2: Ironwork hoard RA 421 (2031) and wall (2029) (0.2m scale) Figure 24 Trench 2: Aerial drone shot of the mosaic (David Shepherd) Figure 25 Key drawing to the mosaic (Lindsey Bedford) ii @Cotswold Archaeology Mud Hole Roman Villa, Boxford, West Berkshire; The 2019 Excavation Figure 26 The Bellerophon Panel (David Shepherd) Figure 27 An interpretive reconstruction of the Bellerophon Panel (Anthony Beeson) Figure 28 The Court Panel (Chris Forsey) Figure 29 An interpretive reconstruction of the Court Panel (Anthony Beeson) Figure 30 Myrtilus (Anthony Beeson) Figure 31 Myrtilus exchanging lynch-pins (Anthony Beeson) Figure 32 The Chariot Race (Chris Forsey) Figure 33 Interpretive reconstruction of the Chariot Race and Inscription (Anthony Beeson) Figure 34 Oenomaus and the Racing Chariot (Anthony Beeson) Figure 35 The Cumae sarcophagus in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Anthony Beeson) Figure 36 The Tipasa sarcophagus, Tipasa Museum (Marigold Norbye) Figure 37 Pelops at the winning-post (Anthony Beeson) Figure 38 An interpretive reconstruction of Pelops (Anthony Beeson) Figure 39 The south-eastern Telamon (Anthony Beeson) Figure 40 The north-eastern Telamon (Anthony Beeson) Figure 41 The north-western Telamon (Anthony Beeson) Figure 42 The south-western Telamon (Anthony Beeson) Figure 43 The Walking Telamones mosaic. Greek Cross Room mosaic, Vatican (Steve Clark) Figure 44 The Telamon fountain from Avenches (Marigold Norbye) Figure 45 The eastern amorino (Anthony Beeson) Figure 46 The northern amorino (Anthony Beeson) Figure 47 The western amorino (Anthony Beeson) Figure 48 Hercules and the Centaur (Anthony Beeson) Figure 49 The Hercules sarcophagus, formerly at Hever Castle (Warburg Institute Library) Figure 50 The Cantharus (Anthony Beeson) Figure 51 The north-western corner of the mosaic (David Shepherd) Figure 52 Alcathous of Elis (Anthony Beeson Figure 53 The Cithaeronian Lion (Anthony Beeson) Figure 54 Arion and Adrastus (Anthony Beeson) Figure 55 Interpretive reconstruction of Arion and Adrastus (Anthony Beeson) Figure 56 The Foal Tamer from Egnazia, Egnazia site museum (Robert Field) Figure 57 Mud Hole villa: section through the mosaic foundation (Anthony Beeson) Figure 58 Digital reconstruction of the Mud Hole villa, looking east (David Brown, Lyons, Sleeman and Hoare, Architects) Figure 59 Excavation Team photograph, August, 2019 iii @Cotswold Archaeology Mud Hole Roman Villa, Boxford, West Berkshire; The 2019 Excavation Figures in Appendices Figure I1: Mean proportion of bones by carcass part. Quantities given in Table 15 (Appendix I) LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Quantification of finds Table 2 Quantification of Biological Material Table 3 Context Descriptions Table 4 Pottery totals by ware type Table 5 Pottery totals by context type Table 6 Pottery by context number (weight in grammes) Table 7 Glass: Summary Quantification Table 8 Summary table of metal items by material and functional grouping Table 9 Breakdown of the ceramic building material assemblage Table 10 Provenance of ceramic building material assemblage Table 11 Quantification of stone roof tile and CBM from Trenches 1 and 2 (kg) Table 12 Mortar and Plaster Summary by provenance Table 13 Mortar and Plaster: