Archaeological Investigations in the Silchester Hinterland (Paperback)

Silchester is one of the best-known and best-preserved Roman towns in Britain. A series of archaeological investigations conducted as part of the planning process has added to our knowledge of how the landscape around the site of the Roman town was used and developed.

None of the archaeological sites reported here is remarkable by itself, nor are there abundant finds, nor any spectacular individual find to record, but the steady accumulation of evidence from many such small sites can transform the way entire landscapes are perceived. This has been facilitated by the consistent application of planning guidance to ensure archaeological sites are recorded in advance of development, and planning policy is now a crucial tool in archaeological research.

The investigations reported in this volume include: two fieldwalking surveys, of the Loddon valley and the area immediately around Silchester itself; excavations including an Iron Age iron smelting site at Arborfield a Roman cremation cemetery and medieval building at Mortimer; a medieval oven also at Mortimer; late Iron Age to Roman enclosure at Little London Road, Silchester; results from a watching brief along a pipe-line around the southe of the study area, with important finds from Latchmere Green and elsewhere; and finally an evaluation which produced the first evidence for Late Bronze Age/Ealry Iron Age exploitation of the Silchester area.

These sites can be better appreciated in conjunction with work reported in TVAS Monograph 13, which takes us north to Reading; and Monograph 12, which explores an area towards Thatcham and Newbury. These volumes taken together provide a long-term view of a wide tract of landscape within a day's journey of the Roman town.