Britannia Monographs

No. 2. Clive Partridge, Skeleton Green: a Late Iron Age and Romano-British Site 

An outstanding late Iron Age and Romano-British site in Hertfordshire, where the stratified sequence of late Belgic buildings and occupation underlying an interesting second-century Romano-British cemetery has yielded remarkable collections of Arretine, Gallo-Belgic and local pottery together with coins and other objects.
1981. 359 pp., 15 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 01 0. £13/US$26
Discount price: £6/US$12

No. 5. Michael Fulford, Silchester: Excavations on the Defences 1974-80

A chronological and thematic description of the excavation of parts of the Calleva defences, .followed by descriptions of the finds and specialist reports by various contributors, in particular that by Michael Fulford himself on the Roman pottery. The third part analyses the long-term field survey work and the aerial photographs of settlement around Silchester. (For further Silchester volumes see below under nos. 10 & 15.)
1984. 301 pp., 91 figs. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 03 7. £17.50/US$35
Discount price: £8/US$16

No. 7. I. M. Stead and Valery Rigby, Baldock: the Excavation of a Roman and pre-Roman Settlement, 1968-72

An account of large-scale excavations revealing the development of an extensive Iron Age settlement and small Roman town in Hertfordshire from c. 200 B.C. to A.D. 450. Among the furnished burials is an important La Tène III tomb. The book includes valuable discussions of the British coinage, of a wide variety of Gallo-Belgic and other imported Gaulish pottery, of the trading networks within the region and of the implications for the economy of the many animal bones from the site.
1986. 435 pp., 160 figs. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 16 9. £22/US$44
Discount price: £8/US$16

No. 8. G. B. Dannell and J. P. Wild, Longthorpe II: the Military Works Depot: an Episode in Landscape History

This volume describes the pottery-making depot attached to the pre-Flavian vexillation fortress of Longthorpe near Peterborough and and throws light on the problems of supply of the Roman army during the conquest campaigns.
1987. 206 pp., 75 illus. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 08 8. £15.75/US$31
Discount price: £8/US$16

No. 9. S. S. Frere and J. J. Wilkes, Strageath: Excavations within the Roman Fort, 1973-86

This volume describes the exploration of three successive forts at Strageath, Scotland, and makes important contributions to the study of the Roman North and to Roman military archaeology.
1989. 360 pp., 134 figs, 40 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 11 8. £26/US$52
Discount price: £8/US$16

No. 10. Michael Fulford, The Silchester Amphitheatre: Excavations of 1979-85

This companion volume to nos. 5 & 15 throws new light on one of the principal monuments of Roman Silchester and examines the functions of urban and military amphitheatres in Britain.
1989. 248 pp., 84 figs, 40 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 12 6. £22/US$44
Discount price: £8/US$16

No. 12. A.G. Marvell and H.S. Owen-John, Leucarum: Excavations at the Roman Auxiliary Fort at Loughor, West Glamorgan, 1982-4 and 1987-8

The Roman fort at Loughor was founded in c. AD 75 and occupied continuously until the early 120s; it was used sporadically until c. 150/160 and occupied again from c. 270 until the early fourth century. Excavation was concentrated on the defences and part of the interior and has allowed construction methods and metrication to be reviewed. In the interior of the Flavio-Trajanic fort, a sequence of granaries, the last associated with charred grain, was followed by a series of four praetoria. Analysis of the data from these buildings has allowed a reconsideration of the form and function of Commanders' Houses in auxiliary forts. Full reports on the coins, ironwork, amphorae, lamps, glass, grain and other finds are provided.
1997. 448 pp. incl. 155 line drawings, 26 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 21 5. £45/US$90
Discount price: £8/US$16

No. 13, Lawrence Keppie, Roman Inscribed and Sculptured Stones in the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow

The Hunterian Museum's collection includes almost all the distance slabs which commemorated the construction of the Antonine Wall between Forth and Clyde in AD 142, together with building-records from forts, altars, gravestones, sculptures and architectural pieces. The use of unpublished archival material results in a fascinating account of antiquarian enthusiasms. Some 80 individual stones are catalogued, and the overall content of the collection is assessed. The monograph is extensively illustrated with line drawings and photographs.
1998. 156 pp. incl. 100 line drawings, 24 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 22 3. £36/US$72
Discount price: £5/US$10

No. 16, Edith Evans et al., The Caerleon Canabae: Excavations in the Civil Settlement

This volume represents the first detailed publication of the civil settlement outside the legionary fortress at Caerleon. Extensive excavations uncovered 22 buildings in a range of construction types, from `cottages' to strip buildings and larger buildings. Some were probably connected with small-scale agriculture on reclaimed marshland, and others had evidence for craft activity, particularly iron-smelting. Waterlogging of the lowest levels preserved environmental evidence for the earlier phases. Vast quantities of artefacts were recovered. Of particular interest are the assemblages of lead and copper alloy objects and ceramic figurines.
2000. 537 pp., 125 figs, 33 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 25 8. £52/US$104
Discount price: £20/US$40

No. 17, P. Rahtz, S. Wright and S. Hirst, Cannington Cemetery

This monograph presents a cemetery of over 500 burials of the 3rd to 8th centuries AD, and is key evidence for the population of Somerset in the period of transition from Roman to Anglo-Saxon times. A wide range of artefacts, including pottery, glass and metalwork, is representative of the Roman, western British and Anglo-Saxon elements in the cultural mix of the burying population. There are major sections on the character and development of the cemetery, on the human biology and on the context of the cemetery in late Roman and post-Roman settlement in Somerset, especially temples and hillforts.
2000. 516 pp., 256 figs, 70 tables. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 26 6. £56/US$112
Discount price: £20/US$40

No. 18, P. Leach et al. Fosse Lane: Excavations of a Romano-British Roadside Settlement at Shepton Mallet, Somerset

In 1990 rescue excavations by the University of Birmingham, funded jointly by Showerings Ltd and English Heritage, revealed over 2 ha. of a Romano-British roadside settlement beside the Fosse Way in Somerset. Located on the outskirts of Shepton Mallet, little more than a settlement locality and a pottery manufacturing site were known previously. Fosse Lane can now, however, take its place among the better known of the smaller towns and roadside settlements of Roman Britain. The excavations revealed evidence for a typical, agricultural and minor industrial centre, developing from the end of the 1st century AD and with its floruit in the 4th. Streets, plot layouts, plans of both timber-frame and stone buildings, and several small cemeteries were revealed. These last indicate some continuity of use into the 6th century, and the possibility of one Christian burial group.
2001.  348 pp, 81 figs, 24 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 27 4.  £47/US$94
Discount price: £20/US$40

No. 19,  A.S. Anderson, J.S. Wacher and A.P. Fitzpatrick, The Romano-British ‘Small Town’ at Wanborough, Wiltshire: Excavations 1966-1976

Wanborough, near modern Swindon, is the site of a Romano-British small town on Ermin Street, between Cirencester and Silchester. It is usually identified with the Durocornovium of the Antonine Itinerary. This report presents the results of excavations along the frontage of Ermin Street undertaken in advance of development between 1966 and 1976. From possible military origins the settlement developed into a ‘small town’ which in the late third and fourth century extended to over 25 hectares and seems to have been divided into insulae. Many buildings were excavated, including a rare type of timber-framed building in which the joists rested on stones that raised them from the ground. The large number of finds suggests that most of the buildings were both residential and ‘commercial’ while the products of the local north Wiltshire pottery industry are also prominent in the major pottery assemblage. The excavations at Wanborough provide an insight into the everyday life and crafts of an ordinary roadside settlement or ‘small town’ in southern England that flourished as civitas capitals and towns declined.

2001. 400 pp., 126 line drawings, 11 black and white pls.  Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 29 0.  £44/US$88
Discount price: £20/US$40

No. 20, Heather James, Excavations in Roman Carmarthen 1973-1993

This is the first detailed publication on Roman Carmarthen, Moridunum, tribal capital of the Demetae of West Wales. The numerous illustrations include splendid reconstruction drawings by Neil Ludlow. The volume covers seven excavations carried out by the Dyfed Archaeological Trust between 1978 and 1993. Small rescue excavations located the Roman auxiliary fort west of the later town. The largest site at Priory Street encompassed the intersection of two Roman streets, flanked by a sequence of buildings (early second to late fourth century) with evidence of smithing and baking. Important evidence was produced on the processes of laying out a Roman town. Other sites explored the town defences, whose entire circuit is known through watching briefs and topographical analysis. A substantial building, possibly a mansio, on the south side of the town was also sampled. The finds assemblages are valuable for comparison with other towns and especially in the context of the supposedly lightly romanised hinterland.

January 2004. 416 pp., 140 figs, 23 pls. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 30 4. £60/US$120

No. 21, Hilary E.M. Cool, The Roman Cemetery at Brougham, Cumbria: Excavations 1966-67

The rescue excavations at Brougham uncovered the largest cemetery associated with a fort in the north yet dug. They revealed a third century cemetery where not only the soldiers, but also their wives and children were cremated and buried. The dead were provided with expensive pyre goods, such as elaborately decorated biers, jewellery, military equipment, household items and a wide range of animal offerings including horses. Their remains were generally deposited with pottery vessels including a large number in samian and Rhenish colour-coated wares. It has been possible to show that all parts of the funerary ritual was strongly structured by the age and sex of the deceased. There is good evidence that the unit was originally from the Danubian frontier.

The volume includes detailed specialist reports on all aspects of the finds and funerary rituals. A database of the results is included on a CD to facilitate further analysis.

July 2004, 542 pp., incl. 349 illus. and CD-Rom.  Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 31 2. £68/US$136

No. 22,   Michael Fulford,  Amanda Clarke and Hella Eckardt, Life and Labour in Late Roman Silchester: Excavations in Insula IX since 1997

The Society of Antiquaries’ excavation of Silchester’s Insula IX in 1893-4 left most of the stratigraphy undisturbed. A new programme of work has shown that the Insula underwent radical change, c. AD 250/300, with the construction of new workshop and residential buildings on the orientation of the Roman street-grid, following the demolition of mid-Roman buildings arranged on different, pre- and early Roman alignments. The plans of several properties and individual buildings were recovered, and analysis of the rich range of artefactual and biological data has allowed a detailed and differentiated characterisation of the life and occupations of the inhabitants in the 4th century. The context of the 5th century ogham-inscribed stone is explored and the history of the insula is followed into the 5th/6th century.

2006, 404 pp., incl. 125 illus. Paperback. ISBN 0 907764 33 9 & 978 0 907764 33 5. £68/US$136

No. 23, W.S. Hanson with K. Speller, P.A. Yeoman and J. Terry, Elginhaugh: A Flavian Fort and its Annexe

Elginhaugh is the most completely excavated timber-built auxiliary fort in the Roman Empire.  This report provides an assessment of all the structures, with particular emphasis on the identification of stable-barracks and the implications for the identification of garrisons based on fort plans, while extensive examination of the annexe makes a substantial contribution to the debate about the function of these attached enclosures. Because the occupation is so closely dated (A.D. 79–87), the site provides a very precise dating horizon for the wide range of artefactual material reported on.  Of particular importance is the evidence for the local manufacture of coarseware and mortaria, including the identification of a new mortarium potter. An extensive programme of environmental analysis provides insight into issues of local environment and food supply.  Finally, there is unique evidence that the site continued to function as a collection centre for animals after the garrison had departed.

November 2007, 2 vols. (c. 672 pages including 164 line-drawings and 58 plates). Paperback. ISBN 978 0 907764 34 2.  £58/US$116

No. 24, Philip Crummy, Stephen Benfield, Nina Crummy, Valery Rigby and Donald Shimmin, Stanway: an Elite Burial Site at Camulodunum

Excavations between 1987 and 2003 on the fringes of the site of Camulodunum at Colchester revealed an extraordinary funerary site with a Middle Iron Age antecedent. The earliest of the five enclosures that defined the site was an Iron Age farmstead, abandoned by the mid-first century BC. Important finds from this period include an assemblage of Middle Iron Age pottery and two currency bars. The other four enclosures were the burial place of members of an élite Catuvellaunian family, including a ‘Warrior’ and a ‘Doctor’. A wide range of grave goods were recovered, both imported and of native manufacture. They include a set of surgical instruments, ceramic table services, wine amphorae, fine glassware and metal vessels, dress accessories, textiles, weaponry and several gaming boards, one with the pieces in position as if in play. A metal strainer bowl in the Doctor's burial had last been used to make a tea containing artemisia. The burial rite had included feasting and the breaking of the vessels used for the meals. The characteristics of the enclosures and the funerary rites are linked with the Folly Lane and King Harry Lane sites in Verulamium, and with sites in northern Gaul.

December 2007, c. 480 pp. incl. 150 line drawings and 30 black & white plates. Paperback. ISBN 978 0 907764 35 9.  £46/US$92